Somebody Like You
by RecursiveChordate
Summary: Set after the end of KH3. When you're adjusting to a new life after escaping a terrible fate, it helps to have a Princess of Heart on hand for support. And also Riku. Maybe.
1. Nobody's Destiny

After several minutes of effort, Kairi finally heard a satisfying _crunch_ as she swung her head back and broke Axel's nose.

Immediately followed by "AAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaah!" and Kairi falling onto the sands of the Destiny Islands shoreline as Axel reflexively let go of her.

Which was then followed by a "Woo!" from Wakka, polite applause from Tidus and Selphie, and a concerned 'oh!' from Namine.

Kairi fought down a grin as she stood back up. She certainly wasn't proud of hurting Axel, but Riku had been right - escape moves were satisfying. They certainly would have been useful two weeks ago at the Keyblade Graveyard, when she had been caught in that Demon Tide -

_Or when Xemnas had grabbed her. Or when Xehanort had put a keyblade through her back as Sora watched. Or when - _

A moan from Axel reminded Kairi to focus on the here and now. "Cura!"

After casting the spell, Kairi helped Axel sit on the makeshift log bench with the others as his nose bent back into shape. Wakka watched with undisguised fascination. Magic - and dark portals and Heartless and talking mice - were no longer a secret on Destiny Islands, 'world order' notwithstanding. Walking down Main Street with a keyblade in hand was still frowned upon, but practice along the shoreline - with childhood friends who had figured everything out anyway - wasn't a problem.

Speaking of practice...Kairi looked up and saw that Roxas and Xion were still sparring with Riku, Keyblade-Master-in-Residence. Good. Riku had taken it upon himself to train the other keyblade-wielders of Destiny Islands. Xehanort was gone (as well as Xehanort, and Xehanort, and...), but there would always be Heartless. And Nobodies. And it wouldn't surprise Kairi if somebody opened a closet one morning and found a spare Xehanort stuffed inside, ready to restart the Keyblade War all on its own. Riku had set up his impromptu training camp three days after they'd returned to the Islands. Nobody had complained.

As Kairi watched, Riku performed a somersault-and-dash combo that sent Roxas and Xion into the sand. Roxas was up in an instant, activating a...something that sent a column of sand in the air, which he promptly launched himself from. Xion followed with the same move a second later. Even if Kairi couldn't follow what the more experienced 'students' were doing, it still made for a good show. Tidus and Namine cheered on Riku, while Selphie cheered for 'Kairi's other twin and her man ohmygosh they're perfect together.'

Moments like these made Kairi forget the events of the past month. Everything was perfect...

...until Tidus turned to Namine. "Hey, where's your keysword?"

Namine froze. Kairi froze. After a moment, Axel responded with a nasally, "It's a 'keyblade'. She doesn't have one."

Sensing the mood, Tidus put up his hands defensively. "I'm just asking because I'm still waiting for mine. Everybody gets one sooner or later, right?" He counted on all of his fingers. "You, Sora, Riku, Roxas, Xion, hot blue-haired girl, tall wide-pants guy, guy who isn't Sora or Roxas, that talking mouse, and the guy with the crazy red hair who you said kidnapped you that one time."

Axel smirked until the last one. "Wait, that was _me_. I kidnapped Kairi."

"I know."

"I'm sitting right here."

"Yep."

"How ungrateful! I'll have you know - while you were lounging around on the beach here - Kairi and I were working together, keyblades in hand, fighting the forces of evil!"

"Is that why you didn't bring her back?"

"She's here now, isn't she? It's like I didn't kidnap her at all."

"That's not how it works!"

It was at that moment that Wakka decided to be completely unhelpful. Turning to Namine, he said, "So why don't you have a 'keyblade'? Were you out of town when they were handin' them out?"

Namine looked sheepish. "You aren't just given a keyblade. You have to be chosen. You have to be worthy -"

Tidus shook his head. "Like the Kairi-napper over there? That can't be the right. Maybe there are only ten. Or somebody stole yours. Or you have to search for one on an epic journey."

Selphie suddenly straightened up, stars in her eyes. "Ooh, maybe Riku can help you find one! He's a 'keymaster' -"

"Keyblade Master."

"- and you could be his apprentice! Except he doesn't want an apprentice; he says Sora can help you instead 'cause Sora's cheerful and not broody and always helps everybody. But Sora's not back yet, and you don't want to wait. Riku helps you look for your keyblade anyway 'cause he doesn't want you to get yourself hurt, and you find it, and he's all 'I couldn't see it before, but you're really something special! And pretty!', and - "

Selphie proceeded to describe the master/apprentice relationship in graphic detail, not noticing the increasingly mortified look on Namine's face.

At the description of Sora, Kairi tried to hide her discomfort. He was still missing, and there had been disagreement on how to handle the situation. Donald and Goofy were ready to hop into the Gummi Ship and search immediately. Yen Sid felt Sora 'deserved the opportunity' to return on his own. Terra thought that was a terrible idea, given what he and his friends had gone through, and he had no qualms about saying so. King Mickey was quick to defend Yen Sid, and...In the end, Riku had been the voice of reason:

"Give Sora a month. Assuming he doesn't wash up on Destiny Islands on his own, I'll be first on the Gummi Ship to start looking," Riku said, ignoring the indignant squawk from Donald. "But we just _survived the second Keyblade War_. None of us are prepared for what could be a very long journey through the Ocean Between. Let Mickey and Yen Sid look for a starting point while we get ready. Besides, Sora can take care of himself. I'm sure we'll find him taking a nap on the World of Infinite Sunshine and Puppies. It wouldn't be the first time."

Two more weeks to go. Kairi felt she was handling it well. She was no stranger to waiting on Sora.

...although she was planning to tie him up as soon as he gets back.

...which wouldn't work since he could summon his keyblade and cut himself loose, but he'd get the point. Maybe.

"- so you go into battle alone, and there's a million of those black shadowy things, and you get hurt, and Riku shows up at the last second and saves you. He's all 'I realized I couldn't live without you', and –"

"Whoa, somebody's had a lot of time to think about this." Tidus said. "Sounds like you're the one who wants a keyblade, Selph. And maybe Riku too."

"What? No, I wasn't -"

"It's cool, we get it," Wakka said. "Riku's big and handsome, plus he's got a sword and magic powers. A lot of girls are gonna fall for that. Don't worry, we'll support you."

"I am not crushing on Riku, Wakka! Although I'm beginning to think you might be!"

Kairi laughed. Axel laughed. Namine didn't.

* * *

As Axel laughed, he noticed with satisfaction that he could breathe through his nose again. The back of Kairi's skull was _hard_, as skulls tend to be.

Namine wasn't laughing. Weird. She was usually the first to -

_Are you _still _all alone in this white room? Doesn't it drive you _mad_? The room could use a splash of _red_, and - well, here I am! One problem solved. As for you - you need a good _laugh_. I would tell you a joke, but I seem to have _misplaced _my sense of humor. Now that drives _me _mad. We're all mad here. Except for _you_. How long will _that _last, I wonder? _

_Oh! Here's a joke: you have two opportunities to escape, or you would if they weren't busy downstairs trying to _murder _each other._

_Does it hurt, Namine? Watching your two childhood friends fight, all because of you? You have my sympathies. From the heart._

Axel briefly closed his eyes. He hadn't been that Axel for a long time, even as a Nobody. Today's practice must've worn him out more than he'd realized.

When he opened his eyes, Namine was looking at him. Uh oh. "Axel, how did you get your keyblade?"

"I, ah, asked the old man for one. Yen Sid."

"Yen Sid just handed a keyblade to you? All you have to do is ask? Nobody told me it worked that way." Namine looked hurt.

"Well, not exactly. He gave this long speech, said the keyblade had been 'bequeathed', and then told me to make the keyblade appear on my own. It would 'reveal itself when I was ready.' I waved my arms for days."

Axel held out his hand, and Flame Liberator appeared on cue. "Yen Sid was more surprised than I was when this baby finally showed up."

Wait a minute. "You think he was just trying to get rid of me? I flail around for a few weeks, give up, and the old man's like, 'the stars weren't aligned, you weren't chosen, terrible shame, now get out of my tower.' "

Namine didn't answer. Just turned back to the Riku show-off match, which had already ended. Roxas and Xion were talking. Riku took a moment to stretch, then recalled his keyblade from where it had landed on the other end of the 'practice ring'. With a flick of the wrist and a flash of light, Braveheart was back in its master's hand. On the bench, Namine mimicked the motions.

Axel felt his heart lurch. Ow.

Time to act nonchalant. "I think there are too many keyblades already. Pretty sure 'Master' Riku over there doesn't enjoy handling four students at once. He hasn't had time for me all day."

"Do you want to keep practicing with me?" Kairi said.

Axel scooted away from Kairi in an exaggerated fashion. "You _are _trying to destroy my face. I'm good, thanks. I'm just saying it would've been nice if one of the other masters had stuck around."

Kairi shrugged. "It couldn't be helped. King Mickey had to return to his castle. Aqua's restoring the Land of Departure with Terra and Ven."

"They know I was joking about the whole 'Ven-must-stay-50-feet-away-from-Roxas-at-all-times' rule, right?"

"Yes, they know."

"The Islands wouldn't actually explode. Really, merging with your copy is practically a rite of passage around here."

"Is that why you're not going by 'Lea' anymore?"

"That's right. I've got Lea's natural good looks and charisma, combined with Axel's skills and devil-may-care attitude. I'm more than the sum of my parts. I was thinking 'Axallee' or 'Reno-xel', or maybe 'Lexel', but 'Axel' was shortest."

"It's not because Roxas and Xion both know you by that name?"

"Completely unrelated."

Axel's vision of Kairi was suddenly blocked as Xion sat in the space between them. Axel dramatically pulled her into a hug and ruffled her hair.

"Aah!"

"Speak of the Xion, and she shall appear! Heh. Which it had actually been that easy."

Xion squirmed out of Axel's grasp and smoothed her hair down, pouting.

"Quitting early? Did -"

_Giving up so soon? I thought you were going to give us a show!_

"- Riku get a good hit in?"

"Roxas wanted to spar with Master Riku on his own."

Kairi crossed her legs. "Again? He does that every day. Is he planning to take the Mark of Mastery exam?"

Xion crossed her legs. "He won't tell me."

"Nah, Roxas is just in a hurry," Tidus said. "Riku's always been the best. Wakka, Selphie and I used to fight him three-on-one, and he'd whip us all. If Roxas wants to get stronger, challenging Riku one-on-one's the way to go. Every blitzer knows: when you got the ball..."

"...you gotta score!" Wakka and Xion cheered.

Wait, what? "Xion, what's a 'blitzer'? And how do you know about it?"

In an instant, Wakka was leaning over towards Xion, nearly knocking Selphie over. "You're a blitzball fan? Wanna go to the first game with us? I get four tickets every year. It's me an' Tidus, an' it used to be Sora and Riku too, but they're out of town all the time now, and Selphie just doesn't understand -"

"Easy, Wakka! You're scaring her. You gotta play it cool." Tidus straightened his shirt. "Like this: So Xion, we've got extra tickets to the first blitzball game. Want to go with us? They're really great seats, and it's gonna be an amazing season, I can feel it, and we've gone every year since I was eight, and you would be the first girl to go with us, ever, and -"

Xion summoned her keyblade.

"...you have plenty of time to think about it. Just let us know."

Xion let her keyblade vanish. "Axel, blitzball's a team sport you play in the water with that ball that Wakka's holding. It's really popular around here."

"Huh. You're catching on to the local customs fast. And I never guessed you'd be into sports." Axel was definitely bringing his frisbee to practice tomorrow.

"...neither did I." Xion looked confused. "I know I've watched the game before, but that can't be right. Preseason doesn't start until the middle of next month."

"Well, you must be some kind of fan, if you're counting down to the preseason."

"...how _did _I know when preseason would start?"

"Maybe you had to reschedule a romantic evening with your boyfriend?" said Selphie. "He better make it up to you!"

"That could be it. Maybe. What's a 'romantic evening'?"

* * *

Riku sidestepped, then stood in place as another of Roxas's swings went wide. Roxas wasn't slowing down - if anything, he seemed to have more energy, now that it was just the two of them - but he wasn't scoring any hits either. Odd. Roxas had beaten him before. Was he losing focus, or -

_The keyblade is not a bludgeon. You must trust it. If you rely solely on your own strength - or the DARKNESS! - you will fail._

As it often did, Riku's subconscious responded in the grandiose voice of Xenahort's Heartless. It wasn't a problem. Riku had long ago made peace with the darkness in his heart - plus he'd recently watched the Seeker of Darkness literally fade from existence, so he definitely wasn't possessed again. Any pronouncements of DARKNESS! were just a side-effect of carrying that drama queen in his head for over a year. It was actually kind of funny.

Riku casually dodged another slash. Roxas wasn't getting any better. With a figure-eight move, Riku disarmed Roxas and pointed Braveheart at his neck. Practice over.

Riku lightly bopped Roxas on the head. "You're treating Oathkeeper like a stick again. It's better than that."

"I'm sorry."

"You're strong. So's your keyblade. Both are important." That sounded right. Riku really should have asked Aqua and Mickey for pointers on how a Keyblade Master is supposed to talk.

Roxas summoned his keyblade back to his hand, and then stared at it. The keyblade stared back. Presumably.

Riku patted Roxas on the shoulder, and then started walking towards their friends.

"Can we go one more round?"

Seriously? "You trying to beat my old record against Sora?"

Did Roxas just flinch? Nah. "I just want to get stronger."

"We'll continue tomorrow. Moderation is important. Come on, the others are waiting."

'Moderation' was a good Master-ish word. Riku was making a list.

Everybody on the log bench looked at Riku expectantly as he and Roxas walked up, eager for him to announce the end of the day's training session. Out of all of Riku's tasks as Master, inspirational speeches were the hardest. Every day should have something different: a reflection on personal growth, or an observation on the nature of light and DARKNESS!, or a reminder of the importance of friendship.

As he often had during the past two weeks, Riku wished Sora was around to do the talking.

Taking a deep breath, Riku said:

"Alright, good practice today."

Nailed it.

Axel cheered. "Ice cream time!"

Kairi stood up. "Riku, can I have a word with you? Axel, you too."

"...except for me, apparently."

"Relax. It's not like the ice cream's gonna melt before you get to it."

"That is _exactly _what will happen!" Axel said, pouting but staying next to Kairi anyway as everybody else headed for the canoes that would take them back to the main island.

Once the others were out of earshot, Kairi turned to Riku. "Can you give me an update on everybody's progress?"

"Yes ma'am. It'll be on your desk at 0600." On Kairi's glare, Riku laughed. "Let's see...you and Axel are doing fine for your experience level."

Axel rubbed his nose but said nothing.

"Xion, not so much. I know she's skilled, but she keeps getting distracted and making mistakes."

"And Roxas?"

"He fights well, and he's certainly self-motivated. But he's having trouble working alongside others. Not like that, I mean...he's not on bad terms with anybody. He might be afraid of hurting you guys. He holds back when he has a sparring partner unless it's me. "

Kairi frowned. "It's more than that. When Xion and Roxas first reappeared, they were inseparable. Remember when we flew back to Destiny Islands? Roxas almost panicked when he thought there wasn't room for him to sit next to Xion. Like they had to stay in contact or one of them would disappear."

"Well, they had just returned from the dead." Or from another person's heart. Or from Xehanort brainwashing. Whatever.

"But now they never sit together. And Roxas is barely talking to Xion at all. Could it be a problem with the replica bodies? They're getting, I don't know, magical feedback if they get too close to each other? Or hypersensitive to touch?"

"That _would _explain why Roxas is isolating himself. And why Xion is distracted. And Namine - I put my hand on her shoulder yesterday, and she nearly jumped out of her skin."

"Hmm."

"Or maybe two weeks isn't enough of an adjustment period for a _return from the dead_. Kairi, what's this about? Is Ansem the Wise asking about us again?"

"No. Well, yes, but I'm worried too. We practice 'together' every day, but we're never _actually _together. You're a Master, and Roxas and Xion both have over a year of real-life experience, and then there's Axel and me. We're all on different levels. I don't want Roxas and Xion to feel like they're separate from us. And Namine doesn't have a keyblade at all."

"Wait, since when does Namine want a keyblade?" Riku had spent nearly a year with her while she had restored Sora's memories. Not once had she expressed an interest in fighting Heartless.

"She hasn't said anything. But she's the only one who sits on the sidelines at every practice."

"You're right...and a keyblade might choose her at some point, I guess," Riku said. "That's actually kind of disappointing. I mean, I'm sure she's worthy. It's just...after everything we've been through, I was glad _one _of our close friends wouldn't be in danger all the time."

"Somebody to come home to after a long day fighting Heartless?" Axel said.

"Yeah, something like that. Why are you smiling?"

"No reason."

Riku turned just in time to see Kairi wipe a grin off her own face. "The point is, all three of them are former Nobodies," she said. "They all have hearts for the first time. That can't be easy."

Riku nodded. "Not to mention they all just _returned from the dead_. None of them had _physical form _until two weeks ago."

Kairi and Riku both looked at Axel.

"Oh, I get it. I'm the resident Nobody expert. Alright then..."

After a pause, Axel said "Being a Somebody is pretty easy for me. I have regrets - I'm not expecting an invitation to Even's next birthday party, that's for sure - and I'll have them memorized forever."

Did Axel just flinch? Nah.

"But I was a Somebody before I was a Nobody. I had a childhood. Frisbees. Isa."

Axel gestured wildly as he spoke. "Roxas, Xion, Namine...their 'childhoods' came from _Xemnas_. Roxas had, what, a week of normal in that digital Twilight Town? Namine was locked in a castle full of people who were literally unable to care for her. And Xion -" He stopped. "Her situation didn't improve until she died. Sayin' stuff like that makes me wish I didn't have my heart back. But it's true."

Riku had never seen Axel upset before. It was...off.

"And...That's all I got." Axel said, rubbing his eyes. "The old Axel was good at taking Nobodies apart, not putting them back together. I'm no different. Sorry."

"Don't be. You've told us plenty," Kairi said, "and we're going to make this right. I'll ask Ansem if there are any known issues with replicas. In the meantime, we need to think of activities that all six of us can participate in as a full group. No different levels of experience. Nobody gets left out."

Kairi pointed towards the canoes. "Now go! Your ice cream is melting!"

"Yes ma'am!"

As Axel scurried off to the remaining canoes, Riku looked at Kairi's dramatically outstretched arm. "I think Axel's rubbing off on you."

Kairi put her arm down and giggled. "I'm okay with that. As Sora would say, all our hearts are connected."

"Is that why you're focused on helping everybody?"

"Shouldn't I be? They're our friends."

"No, it's great, it's just - Tell me you aren't doing this because you feel like you owe us something. This isn't about Xemnas grabbing you, or the forging of the ki-blade, or Sora disappearing - "

"It's not."

Did Kairi just flinch? Nah. She was smiling.

"Yen Sid said I'm still a Princess of Heart. It's time I started acting like it."


	2. Scientific Radiance

Axel was bored. Bored bored bored.

It was Kairi's fault, really. After yesterday's chat with him and Riku, Kairi had contacted Ansem to see if there could be any problems with replica bodies. Dandruff, food allergies, antisocial tendencies that would cause former best friends to turn on each other. Basic stuff. Unfortunately, Even had overheard the phone call and completely overreacted.

So now Roxas, Xion, and Namine had appointments for 'full medical examinations' at Ansem's laboratory. And, thanks to Kairi's new 'we're all in this together!' policy, everybody with a keyblade was tagging along.

At least Riku had thought to remodel the Gummi Ship this time. Transporting everybody in the old ship to the Keyblade-War-redux-after-party on Destiny Islands had been uncomfortable for several reasons. Axel had gotten through sharing a seat with Roxas and Xion, even if he couldn't feel his legs afterwards, but Donald on Isa's lap was an image he really hadn't wanted to memorize.

The new Gummi Ship, unofficially christened the 'Gummi Bus', was a giant orange brick with rocket engines. It was long enough that you could transport all the Xehanorts at once, if for some reason you wanted to. Into a volcano, maybe.

Riku was in the pilot's seat (Keyblade Master's privilege, according to him). The Gummi Bus had two benches instead of individual passenger seats. Kairi, Namine, and Xion had claimed one bench, and Axel and Roxas had the other. Namine was happily sketching in her notebook as usual. Kairi was chatting with Xion, or at least trying to; Xion was partially curled-up on the bench and giving one-word answers while looking thoroughly miserable. She'd been that way ever since she'd heard where they were going. Roxas, sitting apart from everybody and staring at nothing, wasn't doing much better.

Axel was feeling a bit apprehensive himself, even if he wasn't the one going under the microscope. The last time he'd been in Ansem's Laboratory, he had just returned to 'life'. Many of his former Organization 13 associates (or their Somebodies, at least) still worked there, and he hadn't spoken to them since their violent resurrections.

Maybe it would be okay. Ienzo had always been a good kid -

_Well, hello, Zexion! No, don't get up on _our _account. You're not looking so good. What do you think, Riku? Hmm? Oh, that's right. You're _not _Riku. You're a puppet brought to life. Does that make Vexen the Blue Fairy? Now _there's _a picture._

_Say, not-quite-Riku...the _authentic, original, definitive _Riku is still in the castle somewhere. He's superior in _every _way - it must be killing you! I wonder how you could close the gap? Hmm...well, here's a thought: so far, only _one _of you has _brutally stabbed _Zexion._

_Sorry, Zexion. Saving you doesn't seem half as entertaining._

\- and Even was genial enough, so long as you had the patience for his -

_Mercy? You want mercy? That's not very scientific, is it? Time to renew your credentials, doc. You never answered the important questions of our time, like 'Can a person without a heart still perceive agonizing pain?', or 'Are scientists flammable?'_

_Look on the bright side. You're off the hook. Now you can be nothing instead of just being a Nobody._

\- long-winded explanations on, well, everything.

On second thought, maybe he'd just wait outside. Enjoy the fresh air. A little boredom wasn't such a bad thing.

* * *

"...and that's the key to unaided flight. I've never had access to a live fairy to perform proper tests, but the hypothesis is sound." Ienzo paused to sip his tea. "In retrospect, the use of two separate inertial frames of reference is so obvious. I'm ashamed I didn't think of it sooner."

"I see! How interesting," Kairi said, as she discovered that her standing as a Princess of Heart did not preclude her from lying through her teeth.

Despite Kairi's intentions to keep the group together, everybody had split up as soon as they had arrived at Ansem's Laboratory. Riku had wandered off, saying he had 'a Master-ish idea' and needed to 'talk to a computer,' which Kairi suspected was code for 'nobody needs to know that science is my worst subject.' Axel had elected to hang out with Dilan and Aeleus outside the Laboratory. Inside, Ansem the Wise and Even had ushered Roxas, Xion, and Namine into an examination room. That just left Kairi and Ienzo in the main lab area, sipping tea and holding an hour-long one-sided conversation on not-quite-Newtonian mechanics while waiting for test results.

"Speaking of, um, obvious information," Kairi said, "I wanted to ask you about Xion. I'd figured former Nobodies wouldn't know everything about modern life, but Xion has certain...gaps? Like, she knows how to paddle a canoe, the rules of blitzball, and the lyrics to fourteen different TV show theme songs. But she's never even heard the words 'scrunchie', 'manicure', or 'romantic evening.' "

"Hmm."

"Or anything involving romance, really."

"That...actually makes a lot of sense!" Ienzo said, looking as if he'd just discovered the subject of his next doctoral dissertation. "You are aware of the unique circumstances surrounding Xion's 'birth', yes?"

"She was a replica of Roxas, but she got a bunch of Sora's memories, I think? I know she looks like me because of that."

"That's right. Let's assume those memories were selected purely at random. Statistically, Xion should know basic activities that Sora has performed over much of his life - eating, walking, canoeing, and so on. As well as anything Sora deemed important and therefore thought about often."

"Like TV and blitzball." That sounded like a young Sora all right.

"And you. Xion shares your appearance precisely because memories of you are statistically significant in Sora's mind."

An anxious thought entered Kairi's mind and left her mouth before she could stop it. "But, um, Xion doesn't know about romance? Does that mean Sora, ah, -"

_Kairi, I'm back! I've got some...uh...bad news, I guess? Remember that time I stabbed myself to release your heart? Turns out there was a mix-up when I came back. Yeah, I've actually been a Nobody this entire time. Isn't that crazy? So, that whole 'I'm going to keep you safe' promise, and sacrificing myself to save you with the power of waking? I didn't actually _feel _any of that. My mind was just making it real. Sorry about that...I mean, I'm not _actually _sorry, but you get the idea. Well, I'm off to fight the forces of darkness until I fade into the void. See ya!_

"- I mean, did Sora not actually feel -"

"I wouldn't worry. Sora may not have been aware of his own feelings for you long enough for them to make the jump to Xion."

Right. Kairi was getting nervous over nothing. Roxas had identified her as 'the girl he likes,' after all.

"Xion is quite a fascinating case. Do you suppose she would be willing to stay for a week or so for further testing? Not experimentation, of course. We certainly don't do human experimentation around here. Ha ha ha. By 'testing', I simply meant a broad survey of Xion's intrinsic working knowledgebase. Questionnaires and such."

"...for an entire week?"

"Doesn't it sound exciting? In addition, I would be happy to fill in any knowledge 'gaps' afterwards. Although...hmm...I'm afraid I don't know much of 'romance' myself. A consequence of entering adolescence as a Nobody, I suppose. Or my subsequent proximity to Larxene."

While Kairi debated whether to warn Ienzo against using 'you are statistically significant in my memories' as a pick-up line, the doors to the examination room opened. Out walked Roxas and Xion, both looking slightly less hopeless than before. Xion was now merely distressed, while Roxas had improved to Riku-levels of moody.

"Xion, Roxas, welcome back!" Ienzo said, pouring two more cups of tea. "Are the examinations complete?"

Roxas took a seat across from Kairi. "Is that what those were? Even asked a million questions - 'Are you eating right? Getting enough sleep?' while Ansem poked us with sticks."

Xion remained standing. "Ansem says there's nothing physically wrong with any of us," she said quickly. "He wanted to run one more test on Namine, but they should be out soon. Where's Master Riku?"

"He went to check on something. Axel's right outside though."

* * *

"So...sure is different being Somebodies again, eh?" Axel said.

"Yah," Dilan said.

"..." Aeleus said.

* * *

"Uniforms still fit?"

"Just as we left 'em."

"..."

* * *

"You guys, uh, looking forward to the blitzball season?"

"Wot's 'blitzball'?"

"...?"

Xion stepped out of the main building and into Axel's sudden violent embrace.

"Xion! Boy am I glad to see you!"

"Aah!"

"Clean bill of health, right? Can't have you slowing me down."

"Ansem says we're fine," Xion said. Pulling out of the hug, she quickly jumped behind Aeleus and peeked over his shoulder at the Laboratory door. "But Even won't leave me alone. He keeps holding papers full of squiggly lines in front of my face. 'Does this remind you of anything? How about this?' He wants me to keep a dream journal. He keeps asking about memories of my 'early childhood', when he knows that I _didn't have one_. Are we sure he isn't Vexen anymore?"

"Nah, Vexen would've skipped the questions and gone straight to dissecting you."

"Yah."

"..."

* * *

Ienzo had barely gotten into his views on information theory when a very cheerful Namine exited the examination room with Ansem and Even.

"Ah, Kairi, Roxas! Thank you for waiting," Ansem said. "All of the examinations are finished."

"Not that I had expected any problems with our handiwork, but it pays to be thorough." Even said.

"During our call, you had asked about hypersensitivity? You'll be pleased to know the replica bodies are functioning fully as intended - "

"Naturally."

"- with no signs of excessive contact reactivity or nerve damage." Ansem chuckled. "Your friends are ticklish, but well within expected parameters. All test results came back positive."

"That is, all the _physical _tests."

"Even -"

"I still believe we should keep Xion overnight for observation."

"Even, er, has some minor concerns about Xion's behavioral development -"

"Master Ansem, she won't speak to me! At all!" Even began to pace. "I am her creator. I know her better than she knows herself. If she's having any difficulties in her new life, anything at all, she should come to me first."

Even turned to Kairi. "At the very least, could you convince Xion to call home - I mean, provide status updates periodically?"

"Even -"

"And is it true that she's been riding in Gummi Ships with boys? Unsupervised?"

"Even -"

"And why is she dressing like that? In my day, -"

"Even!" Ansem finally grabbed Even by the shoulders. "Why don't you review the new heart data we collected with Ienzo. I want to have a word with these three."

Taking the hint, Ienzo took Even's arm and led him back into the examination room.

"Ah, Ansem? _Is _Xion okay?" Kairi frowned. "I understand Even's position - sort of - but if Xion doesn't want to talk to him, I won't try to change her mind unless there's a good reason."

"There is no need for concern. When Even created Xion, he was still Vexen; he could not feel anything towards her. Now he has his heart back, but Xion is already growing up - entering adulthood, making life choices, forming relationships. Even was caught off-guard by the passage of time. Most parents go through similar feelings; I certainly did."

Kairi, Roxas, and Namine looked at each other. "Ansem, you have children? Actual children? I mean, not your apprentices, or -"

"Yes, I had children. Most people do. I lost contact with them years ago." Ansem quickly pulled out a notepad. "Let's focus on the here and now. Namine would like to show you something."

Kairi turned to a beaming Namine. "Oh? What's -"

The question died in Kairi's throat as Namine was replaced with a playing card.

Not just Namine. The entire lab disappeared, as if Kairi had just -

_\- walked past the lines of playing-card soldiers, through a hole in the garden wall and into the dimly-lit area beyond. _

_You're in a forest. Or, at least, what _should _be a forest. The grass is wild and unkempt - and also taller than you. All of the plants- mushrooms, flowers, lily pads -are taller than you. Some of them are talking to each other. This is a world unconcerned with Man's paltry notions of order. _

_Before you, a grin appears. Hanging in the air. The rest of its owner's head forms behind it, followed by its body. The body lifts the head, grinning all the while, to its proper place. The head speaks -_

"Namine, perhaps you should warn your friends before you demonstrate your new abilities."

Namine giggled. "I'm sorry. I was just so excited!"

"New abilities? What just happened?" Kairi looked around. Blotches of green were fading from her eyes, replaced with the white of the Laboratory. Ansem was scribbling in his notepad.

Roxas was groaning and shaking his head. "Stupid mushrooms...bad enough everybody in the Organization's taller than me...mushrooms gotta be taller too..." He finally stopped, downed his cup of tea, and glared at Namine. "That was Wonderland. Why were we in Wonderland? And can we never go back?"

"Um, you know how I had control over Sora's memories? That was one of them. I'm not sure why, but I can show them to others now."

"I had suspected this would happen, so I had prepared some additional tests," Ansem said. "A new life, with a new form, means new opportunities. Your powers are expanding. It's too early to say how you will develop, but even this projection ability has enormous potential - recovering lost memories, recounting history, teaching. Much safer than fighting Heartless."

"Oh." Namine frowned. "Does that mean I won't get a keyblade? I've been wondering. Roxas and Xion have keyblades because of Sora, right? And Kairi has a keyblade now. But I - I've only been back for two weeks, so maybe it just takes time? Is my keyblade waiting for something?"

"Perhaps 'your keyblade' has decided you've been through enough!" Ansem's tone shifted from 'kindly grandfather' to 'master of Radiant Garden' with a dash of 'you're grounded for a week.' "You have been given a gift - a second chance at life - granted to very few. You must not squander it."

Ansem abruptly calmed down before anybody could object. "Namine...for so long, you lived among those who would use you, or destroy you outright. Now you are among friends, and I hope you will remain that way. You deserve happiness. You all do."

* * *

With preparations complete, Riku casually strolled back to the Laboratory. He'd been gone for an hour, but he wasn't worried. The others were no doubt still going through whatever tests Even had come up with.

So when a hand appeared out of nowhere and pulled him behind a wall, Riku nearly summoned his keyblade.

"Xion?"

"Master Riku, I have a question," Xion whispered, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Something came up during testing."

"A problem?"

"I'm not sure. During the reflex and pain-response tests, Ansem said that we're all ticklish."

"And?"

"And I don't know _what _to think. Nobody in the Organization ever mentioned something like that. Namine thought it was funny, but Roxas looked mad."

"...Xion, do you not know what 'ticklish' means? Roxas didn't explain it to you?" Why would Roxas be uncomfortable about explaining something like that to Xion? Maybe Kairi was right about there being problems between the two of them.

"Roxas would only say that I couldn't tell Axel, under any circumstances. Or you, but you're our Master, and, well..." Xion took a moment, apparently summoning all of her courage. "...whatever it is, I'm worried that it'll affect our training!"

"Xion -"

"Is that why Roxas and I can't beat you? Because we're ticklish? Is that why Roxas won't work with me anymore?"

"No, it's not -"

"Will I lose my keyblade? That's happened before. It felt horrible."

"You won't -"

"Is it a weakness that the Heartless can exploit?" Xion was close to tears. "If I'm going to put others in danger -"

"Xion! You're fine. Being ticklish, it's just a...a reflex." Was it? Science was his worst subject. "And the darkness hasn't spawned any tickle monsters."

"...thank you, Master."

Riku and Xion returned to the Laboratory. Everybody was gathered outside. Dilan and Aeleus were still standing guard (or possibly asleep with their eyes open). Roxas was glaring intensely at a cluster of mushrooms. Namine was comparing two pieces of paper covered in squiggly lines. Axel was gesturing dramatically in front of Kairi.

"Axel, I said no."

"But they're sea-salt flavor! Why not?"

"Because _you _didn't go through a medical exam. Xion! There you are. This is for you," Kairi said, handing Xion a lollipop and patting her on the head. "You were very brave."

...what _happened _in that Laboratory? Riku had only been gone for an hour.

Well, whatever. Time to be a Master. "Everybody's here. Tests all done? Good. We've got just enough time for a special training session before we head home."

"Is that where you were?" Kairi said. "Setting up for training? I thought you were looking for a computer."

"Same thing." Riku tried to keep his excitement in check. He had an image to maintain. "We're going to a little place called Space Paranoids."


	3. Neon Radiance

As part of the Radiant Garden restoration project, the main computer system had been moved to a separate building some distance away from Ansem's Laboratory. The physical computer racks were underground, along with backup power supplies and networking infrastructure. The very noisy machines on the building's ground floor were mostly HVAC equipment, along with the primary access terminal and the matter transfer laser. Those had been upgraded as well.

...or so Cid had claimed. Riku couldn't see a difference. Laser looked the same. The giant screen was still there. The keyboard was new; apparently somebody had jumped all over the old one.

Cid nodded as everybody filed past him and into the laser room. Upon entering, Roxas immediately glared at the computer screen as if it had stolen his ice cream money.

Kairi regarded the screen with marginally less hostility. "This is your 'special training session'? We're just going to play a computer game?"

"Not quite. Everybody, stand with your backs to the screen. Close together, like we're taking a picture. Good. Now, Tron, if you please."

Kairi looked around. "Tron? Sora's mentioned him before. Isn't he -"

* * *

One short trip through the matter laser later, Riku found himself staring at the eternally-glowing walls of the Space Paranoids user terminal area. Turning around, Riku counted heads. Good, everybody made it through. Riku waited as his friends shook off the effects of digitization.

" - that guy who lives in a computer and Riku what is WRONG with you dummy you have to warn us before you do whatever that was!" Kairi said as her voice gradually un-distorted.

"Heh. Sorry. Would it help if I said you looked great in blue?"

"That's not going to - huh?"

Kairi and the others looked at each other with varying degrees of confusion as they realized they were wearing the white-with-colored-patterns Grid jumpsuits.

"Oh!" Namine was first to react, jumping behind Kairi. "What happened to my skirt? And why are my legs glowing? Riku, what did you do!?"

"Relax, it's just an alternate form. Everybody in Space Paranoids gets one."

"Relax? This...whatever I'm wearing...it's covering my legs completely, and it barely fits! How am I supposed to move like this?"

Riku suddenly realized that not everybody in their group had used alternate forms before. Or had worn pants.

"Whoa, nice!" Axel said as he admired himself. "This world's got my color memorized!"

Axel's suit was indeed highlighted red. Riku and Kairi's suits were both the traditional blue. Same for Roxas (who was busy staring at the computer terminal like it had drowned his goldfish). Namine's was a pale yellow, and Xion -

"Master Riku, why am I different? Is there something wrong with me?"

\- Xion's entire jumpsuit was somehow black instead of white, with purple highlights.

Uh oh. Xion was starting to panic again. What was the proper Masterly response for this? Riku searched the recesses of his mind.

_Why do you fear? Is it because you seek order where none exists? Chaos is your ally!_

"It's fine. I'm pretty sure the color choices are random. Besides -"

_Do not fear the DARKNESS! Embrace it!_

"- you look great. Black suits you."

"Thank you, master!" Xion beamed. Well alright then. Apparently that had been the correct answer.

Riku was saved from any further pontificating by the timely arrival of Tron.

"Greetings!"

"Everybody, this is Tron. Tron, thanks for letting us visit on such short notice."

"It's my pleasure to serve the users." Tron blinked. "I'm sorry, Riku...you mentioned earlier that we had met before? I'm certain I don't recognize you, but I feel like I should."

"I've met a copy of you on another world, er, system. Your hearts are connected." Somehow. Sora had tried to explain it to him several times without success.

"I see. How is the other me doing?"

Hoo boy. "He's, uh, great. Fighting for the users and all that."

"That's good to hear." Tron turned to the rest of the group. "I know I haven't met any of you before. It's good to - wait, Sora?"

Tron walked up to Roxas. "I didn't realize you were here! Where are Donald and - wait, your signature is different. My apologies. You are not Sora."

Did Roxas just flinch? Nah. Must be the lighting.

For some reason, Axel decided to intervene anyway. "Hi, name's Axel."

Tron did a double-take at the red suit. "I will remember that."

"Say, what's this? I found it stuck to my back."

"It's an Identity Disk. It contain a record of all your personal and experiential data. It is also your primary weapon, for both defense and long-range attacks."

"That means I can throw it, right?" Axel traced the red spiral on his disk. "Glowing red clothes and a free frisbee! Can we stay here forever?"

"No!" Roxas finally found his voice. Marching up to Riku, he said, "Riku, did you forget what happened the last time I was in a computer? That Ansem trapped me in an imaginary world and brainwashed me so I'd be easier to manipulate? Or that you helped him?"

Riku straightened to his full height and looked Roxas in the eye. "I haven't forgotten anything I've done."

Roxas faltered slightly, but Riku noticed his hand tighten into a keyblade-holding shape. "Then why -"

"Were you expecting a vacation? I told you this was a special training session." Riku gestured to the glowing hallways. "The Heartless can appear in any world. They've appeared in this one before. Sora drove them off, and they haven't come back -" Riku glanced at Tron, who shook his head "- but we can't get complacent. And Sora isn't available right now. It's up to us."

Riku tapped Roxas on his glowing chest. "You want to carry a keyblade? It's going to take you to places you _don't want to go_. Get used to it."

"...you're right. Master, I'm sorry...I..." Roxas said, looking abashed.

"Don't worry about it. This is why we train. If you were already perfect, I'd be out of a job." Riku said, patting Roxas on the shoulder (Master technique #47). "Speaking of which: Tron, if you would lead the way?"

* * *

"Alright, listen up. When we visit a world, Heartless aren't the only source of danger. Every environment is different," Riku said, gesturing to the flat blue vista before them, "and swinging a keyblade isn't enough - you need to adapt to your surroundings. Your alternate forms are just the tip of the iceberg."

Riku passed out glowing metal sticks as he spoke. "This area is called the Game Grid. Its original designer meant it as a form of entertainment - a large maze with walls that could be reconfigured at any time, so visitors would never get bored. Then a guy called the Master Control Program turned it into an offbeat way to execute people. Now it's under Tron's control, so we can use it for training."

Riku held up one of the metal sticks. "This is a Light Cycle. Who here has ridden one before?"

Silence.

"Good." Riku leaned forward, holding the stick in both hands. A flash of light, and Riku was surrounded by a cross between a motorcycle and a neon 'We're Open' sign. With a distorted roar, he took off at top speed, down the length of the empty Game Grid and back. Four seconds.

Stopping directly in front of his friends, Riku let the motorcycle disappear. He stood up and grinned, eager to see their reactions. Kairi was rolling her eyes at him. Namine, still startled, was holding onto Kairi's arm. Axel and Xion were making enthusiastic sounds and hand gestures, and Roxas...Roxas was jumping in place, looking more like Sora than ever.

"The Light Cycle's maximum speed is faster-than-anything-you've-ever-felt-before. But speed is only half the challenge - the rest is control. Tron, if you please."

A seemingly-random assortment of blue walls suddenly rose up out of the ground.

"The Light Cycle specializes in sharp turns, and that's exactly what you'll need. The goal is simple - navigate the maze as fast as you can."

"We'll do a non-combat run first. Then Tron can add simulated Heartless, and we'll focus on defensive techniques. Everybody goes into the maze at the same time. Namine, that means you too."

"Really?" Namine looked at the metal stick in her hands as if just noticing it for the first time.

"Sure. The Game Grid's a controlled, self-contained environment with no Heartless presence. The only danger is the maze itself - and the other drivers, technically, but that's not a concern for any of us."

* * *

Kairi did her best not to scream in frustration as her Light Cycle hurtled down yet another blue corridor. "Why do all the walls look the same!?"

Over the onboard radio, Kairi could hear the amusement in Riku's voice. "That's the point, Kairi."

Kairi didn't have a comeback for that. Personal irritation aside, the 'training' was going well. Everybody had made it into the maze - after she and Xion had fallen over several times trying to activate their light cycles. And Roxas and Axel had accelerated straight into the entrance wall. And Namine had accelerated in reverse, which, according to Tron, wasn't actually a feature in the Light Cycle program. But once in the maze, she heard nothing but Axel and Roxas's cheerful banter.

"Just watch. You're gonna want to memorize my next move!"

"As if! I've seen Large Bodies move faster than you."

"Kairi, you takin' the scenic route? Catch up with us!"

Unfortunately, the radio couldn't indicate where they were. At least she wasn't the only one lost. "Xion, you don't have to stick with me. You realize I have no idea where I'm going, right?"

The soft response came from the light cycle directly behind hers. "Neither do I."

"We could split up. One of us might find Roxas faster."

"It's fine."

"Riku, where are you?"

"I'm still with Namine. She's finally worked up the nerve to accelerate above walking speed."

"Boooring!" Axel said. "Hey, Tron, can you hear me? Can you toss in a few of those simulated Heartless that Riku mentioned earlier?"

A friendly voice echoed all around them. "Sure. One moment..."

Kairi watched as small lights appeared in the corridor ahead of her. The lights coalesced into simple backlit rectangles with yellow circle 'eyes'.

"There you go. This is still a non-combat simulation, so sideswipe the targets to earn points."

Kairi ran through a rectangle as she turned down another corridor. The rectangle disappeared with a satisfying 'ding'.

The next few corridors had the rectangles in different locations, but it was simple enough to nudge the control stick into each one. "Hey, this is fun!"

"Uh, Kairi?"

"Riku?"

"If you see Namine, could you let me know? She, ah, found her accelerator."

A chorus of 'dings' suddenly filled Kairi's ears, followed by a light cycle moving at breakneck speed in the corridor directly in front of her. Kairi turned to follow as the cycle smacked through a solid line of rectangles -

\- and directly into a wall. The cycle disintegrated, flinging a surprised Namine through the air.

With no time to maneuver, Kairi's light cycle quickly followed suit, sending her through the air and onto Namine and the...spongy Game Grid floor?

Kairi had just enough time to lift her head and hear a third crash when Xion landed on her.

A fourth light cycle drove up - thankfully without crashing - and disappeared, revealing a concerned Riku. "Are you three all right?"

"We're fine," Kairi said. She and Namine were still dizzy but otherwise unharmed; Xion was already up and walking around, pressing her feet on different areas of the floor experimentally. "The ground is soft. Tron must've added a safety feature."

Riku helped Kairi and Namine to their feet. Kairi heard Roxas's voice, apparently over the radio in Riku's still-intact metal stick. "Riku, what happened?"

"There was an accident. A three-Kairi pile-up." Kairi smacked his arm. "I'll activate my homing beacon so you can find us."

Wait, homing beacon? Riku had one of those the entire time!?

A few seconds later, and two light cycles showed up neck-and-neck. The first, trying to avoid an oblivious Xion, overcompensated and rammed into a wall.

Riku shook his head. "Good, there's Roxas. And..."

The second light cycle rammed into the opposite wall. And then burst into digital flames before disappearing.

"...there's Axel. Tron, can you drop the walls? I think we're done for now."

* * *

Axel dusted himself off. "Okay, the bikes turn into light when they crash. I get that. But why did mine catch fire? There's nothing to burn! Why is that a feature?"

Tron looked confused. "It isn't. I've never seen 'fire' before. You users never cease to amaze me. Oh, before I forget..."

A large rectangle suddenly appeared floating in the air. 'Space Paranoids: Light Cycles mode=demo lvl=1 multi=6 combat=off' was written at the top. Underneath was a two-column table, with everybody's names in one and a series of numbers in the other.

"User 'Namine,' you got the high score!"

"Oh! Thank you. That's good, isn't it?"

Axel studied the table. Namine's name was indeed first, with a number far higher than all the others. Axel and Roxas tied for second, followed by Kairi, Riku (who apparently had ignored the targets while looking for Namine), and...Xion was in last place with zero?

Axel turned to Xion. "Um, Xion, where were you during the race?"

"I stayed behind Kairi."

"Directly behind her? So you didn't hit any targets at all?"

"Ah, that's bad, isn't it?"

"It's not your fault. Maybe somebody should've explained the rules before we started. Hint hint, oh wise Keyblade Master."

"No, that was part of the training," Riku explained. "Remember what I said about adapting to your surroundings? Most worlds don't give you a user guide when you show up."

"Well, maybe we should've covered how to ride a motorcycle then. Does anybody here even have a driver's license?"

Riku shrugged. "Never bothered. Most worlds don't check for one."

"Where we come from, boats are more important," Kairi said.

"I never went outside," Namine said.

"What's a driver's license?" Xion said.

"I don't think any of us are old enough anyway? Well, most of us," Roxas said.

Everybody turned to Axel. He shrugged. "You caught me. I don't have one either. Never needed it. That's what Corridors of Darkness were for."

* * *

One short return trip through the matter laser later, and the group was back in the computer room. After typing their farewells to Tron, the tired group piled into the Gummi Bus and headed home.

Kairi smiled as she looked at her friends curled up on the Gummi Bus benches. Sure, Riku's 'special training' might not have gone quite as he had planned, but everybody seemed much more relaxed than they had been in the morning. Xion looked quite peaceful sleeping (and not at all like she was headed to her own execution), and Roxas wasn't sitting quite as far away as he had before. The day had turned out well.

...although it was way past Xion's bedtime. Kairi would have to be more careful about that in the future.

Maybe Kairi's plan to bring everybody together was working? One day wasn't enough to prove it, but Kairi already had the next day trip planned out. The passports were sitting on her desk at home, and everything was packed and ready to go. She'd have to remember to thank Aqua for the idea.


	4. The Happiest Place

"This is your pilot speaking. We have arrived at Disney Town," Riku called out from the front of the Gummi Bus.

"We're heeere!" Kairi chirped, bouncing to her feet. "Wake up everybody!"

The enthusiasm was infectious. Roxas and Xion pressed their faces against the window.

"Oh wow, everything is so bright and cheerful!"

"I can see Disney Castle from here!"

"Look! Walking brooms!"

"There are mouse ears everywhere!"

"Axel, wake up! You're missing everything!"

Axel yawned and rubbed his eyes. "I'm up, I'm up. Are we playing football yet?"

Namine looked confused. "Football? I thought we were going to make a fruit bowl?"

Kairi giggled. "You're both half right. We're going to play Fruitball. According to Aqua, it's like volleyball, but with fruit! Doesn't that sound exciting?"

Axel kept yawning. "Couldn't we have just played volleyball back home?"

"Yes, we _could _have," Kairi said, forcefully nudging Axel, "but I thought a change of scenery would allow all of us to _bond_, as a _group_."

"Oh, right. Uh, all for one and one for all!"

"That's the spirit! Disney Town is 'The Happiest Place in the Realm of Light' according to the brochure, so let's have some fun!"

* * *

After several more minutes of flying around, Riku finally found a parking space large enough for the Gummi Bus.

Kairi grabbed Roxas and Xion before they could leap out the door. "Not so fast, you two. We have to change first."

"Change?"

"Yep! I'm not sure how Fruitball works, but it sounds messy, and water magic can only do so much to get stains out. Namine, Xion, I always pack spare clothes for myself in that box over there. There should be enough for all three of us -"

"Eee!" Xion ran over to the box like a child in Christmastown, throwing it open and holding up each piece of clothing in turn.

"- and they're all kind of worn out, so it's fine if they get ruined. Roxas, I packed a bunch of spare clothes for you over there, take your pick, and - Xion, sweetie, the boys don't need to see those," Kairi said, gently lowering Xion's arm before she could hold up Kairi's spare undergarments in front of everybody.

Kairi wasn't fast enough to stop Roxas from holding up a pair of briefs from his own box. "Kairi, why do you have my underwear?"

"They're actually Sora's."

"...oookay, why do you have Sora's -"

"Axel, I grabbed one of my dad's old tracksuits that should fit you. Don't worry, he hasn't gone jogging in years. Riku, you've got your own spare clothes, right?"

"Always. Demon Tides like to destroy shirts sometimes. Not sure why."

* * *

Wearing his spare tank top, shorts, and a dozen belts, Riku almost felt overdressed next to the rest of the group. Kairi was wearing a flannel shirt and pants that looked suspiciously like pajamas, Xion had picked the exact same clothes as Kairi, Namine had chosen a T-shirt and (with some persuasion) sweatpants, and Axel was in a tracksuit made for somebody far more rotund than himself.

Roxas's clothes - a gray shirt and dark green shorts - made him look almost exactly like Sora, the day he had defeated Xehanort once and for all in Scala ad Caelum. Had Roxas dressed like that on purpose?

Nah. Had to be coincidence.

Upon reaching the entrance to Disney Town, Kairi pulled out six passes and started handing them out.

...wait, passes? How had Kairi gotten passes for another world?

"I bought them from Mr. McDuck," Kairi said in response to Riku's unspoken question. "They weren't cheap, but we got a group discount. And a markdown for buying the passes ahead of time. And there was a special offer for keyblade warriors (active or retired) who've helped save worlds from darkness. We just have to show our keyblades when we go in."

"Oh." Namine frowned. "What about me?"

"For your pass, I used a coupon I found on the back of a soda can. The savings were exactly the same. Isn't that lucky? See, you don't need a keyblade after all!"

"Um, ha ha, yeah...sure is great..."

After passing through the front gate, Riku grabbed a free map from a nearby stand. The Fruitball Court was right over -

"Kairi! Kairi!" Xion tugged on Kairi's sleeve. "Can we do that first?" She pointed at a large sign above a bright green gate: 'Disney Town Speedway: Rumble Racing'.

"Oooo," said Roxas.

"Oooo," said Axel.

"Oooo," said Riku.

"Oh! Oh dear. More racing? Like those glowing bike things?" Namine looked nervous.

"This is supposed to be a group outing," Kairi reminded everyone. "If not everybody is comfortable -"

Riku pointed to the track beyond the gate. "Looks more like go-karts. Maybe some of the karts have two seats? Namine, you can ride with me."

"Really? Okay then, let's go!" Namine immediately started walking towards the entrance.

Huh. That was easier than expected. Did Namine really trust him that much?

Nah. She probably didn't want to disappoint the others. Namine was nice like that.

* * *

After a brief overview on Rumble Racing rules and regulations from Chip and Dale, everybody walked out to the track.

Riku regarded the selection of go-karts with disdain. Brightly colored. Oddly-shaped. Clearly designed for spectacle instead of speed. Nothing like Light Cycles at all.

At least Kairi was getting into it. "The go-karts are floaty!" she laughed. "They're so cute!"

Other racers were already on the track. Two ducks, an old horse, a large bear/cat thing in a purple jumpsuit, and...a Dusk?

Said Dusk ran up to Roxas, gave him a hug, then ran back to his kart.

"We call him Roy," the horse explained. "Roy the Rumble Racer. He doesn't cause any trouble, and he's got a lifetime pass. Shows up every day."

Riku's keyblade hand twitched. He'd seen a lot of low-ranking Nobodies in his day, none of them friendly. "He's, uh, a _good _Dusk?"

"Well, he goes wide on corners, and he's easy on the accelerator when he really doesn't need to be. Great reflexes though. Usually winds up in third or fourth place."

Riku shook his head. 'Roy' was currently waving bashfully at Xion, who was cheerfully waving back. Best to leave well enough alone.

"Um, Riku?" Namine pointed at the karts. "There are only a few go-karts left, and none of them have two seats. What are we going to do?"

Riku walked over to the largest kart available. The seat was deep down in the body of the kart. Perfect. Riku hopped in, then extended a hand to Namine.

"You'll have to sit on my lap."

Namine sputtered for a bit but took Riku's hand anyway. The kart was apparently meant for larger racers, like that bear/cat guy - even with Namine on his lap, Riku could still reach the pedals and oversized steering wheel.

Namine finally found her voice. "Um, is this okay?" she squeaked.

"Sure. You don't weigh anything, and my arms fit around your waist just fine. You need to lean back though," Riku said, gently tugging on Namine until her back was flat against his chest, "and hold on to me tight so you don't fall out."

That set off another round of Namine sputtering. Had he said something wrong? He'd have to worry about that later; a clock was counting down...

With a ding, all the karts took off.

Riku found himself grinning in spite of the less-than-professional atmosphere of the track. The karts weren't as fast as Light Cycles, but they were fast enough, and -

"Aah!"

\- the tornado obstacles, like the one Xion had just discovered, were a nice touch. Not to mention the -

"Yaah!"

\- attack/defense options, which Roxas apparently was still getting used to, as well as the -

"Eeek!"

\- speed boosts, like the one Kairi had just gone over. Perhaps unintentionally.

"Oh, I can't look!" Riku felt Namine's grip tighten as he aimed for another jump ramp.

Riku laughed. "Don't you dare close your eyes!"

"This is so fast!"

"Hold your breath, it gets better!" Riku drifted into a turn.

"Look out, there's a - Oh!"

"Every turn a surprise! Every moment, red-letter!"

All too quickly, the race was over. Riku lifted Namine out of the kart, then continued to hold onto her until her knees stopped shaking.

A bright yellow scoreboard lit up with names. Third place was Roy. Second place was Roxas. First place was...Axel? Riku hadn't even noticed him on the track.

"Yeah! Flurry of Dancing Flames, rising to the top!" Axel cheered. Xion and Roy applauded politely.

"Aw man," Roxas said. "How'd you do it? You kept disappearing."

"The name's Axel, remember? Me and four-wheeled vehicles have a natural camaraderie. And the shortcuts helped."

"Shortcuts!? That's cheating!"

"Nuh uh! It's a legitimate strategy."

"Boys, don't fight," Kairi said. "We're all winners here, and -"

Chip appeared from underneath the scoreboard. "Congratulations to our first-place winner, Axel! Here's your prize: the Fire Dash ability!"

"Darn, I already know that one." Axel turned to the others. "Anybody want Fire Dash? Kairi?"

"Me? Really? Um, I don't know," Kairi said, "I'm not strong enough to use it yet..."

"Something for you to grow into then. Here you go! Pretty soon you'll be as dashing as me."

"Thank you! You're so sweet. And thanks to Xion to pointing this game out. It was fun! Now on to the main event!"

* * *

Kairi read a brochure as Riku led the way to the Fruitball Court. "So apparently Fruitball is like volleyball, except you try to hit fruit into a designated goal area. And the goals move. And there are several pieces of fruit at once. And you hit the fruit with bats. And the net appears at random."

Riku looked up from the map. "How is that anything like volleyball?"

"Well, the teams stand on opposite sides of the court."

"...can we go back to the go-karts?"

"Oh, hush. It's a team sport! We can all play together." Kairi had stars in her eyes. "And I'm glad fruit is involved. I've been worried about nutrition. Some of us have been eating nothing but ice cream lately, and it's not healthy."

Axel gasped in mock horror. "Kairi, I thought you didn't have any darkness in your heart. How can you say such terrible things?"

"I'm serious. Imagine what Ansem would say if he found out. We need to set a better example."

The group arrived at Fruitball Court at the same time as a large number of enchanted brooms.

"Excuse me!" Kairi said, running up to the brooms and flashing her best Princess of Heart smile. "Would you be willing to play a game of Fruitball with us?"

The brooms hopped up and down.

"Thank you so much!"

"Hey, look at this!" Axel gestured to a bin containing the Fruitball bats. "There's a sign here that says we can use our keyblades!"

"Really?" Kairi turned to the brooms. "Um, is that fair? Are you okay with that?"

The brooms hopped up and down again.

Namine grabbed a bat - a wedge of foam, nearly as large as herself - while the others summoned their keyblades and took position on one side of the court. On the other side, the brooms paired off. One broom in each pair picked up its partner and settled into something remarkably similar to a keyblade stance.

Once everybody was ready, Axel asked the obvious. "So where's the fruit?"

Four machines whirred to life. Two were flying contraptions at the ends of the court, each carrying a large net painted with the word 'GOAL'. The other two, on the sides of the court along the center line, looked like comically oversized spigots. The spigots started shaking, and then -

Axel screamed. Namine screamed. Riku made a noise that was very uncharacteristic of him.

One of the spigots had launched an apple. Said apple was roughly the size and shape of a Large Body - bigger than the players, to say nothing of the machine that had launched it.

And it was hurtling directly at Kairi, with no Sora to leap heroically in the way.

"Yaah!" Roxas dashed in front of Kairi, swinging his keyblade in a wide arc. The strike sent shockwaves down the court. It was one of Roxas's best techniques - powerful enough to disintegrate lesser Heartless instantly.

The apple, not even bruised, bounced to the other side of the court. One of the brooms in the front row smacked the apple back, swinging its fellow broom like a tennis racket.

Roxas, winded, fell to one knee. Axel and Xion jumped in, hitting the apple simultaneously with a X-shaped double-slash made of light and fire.

The apple bounced once. A broom in the back row jumped and knocked it back with a powerful spike.

Riku responded with a jump of his own, meeting the apple just behind the centerline with a forward slash, and then -

The other spigot rumbled. A pineapple, roughly the size of a Darkside's fist, shot out. Caught in midair, Riku was helpless as the pineapple struck him head-on.

Riku had just enough time to throw his keyblade and change the pineapple's trajectory before he slammed into the ground.

Was somebody calling his name? Vision still blurry, Riku could barely make out a pair of sweatpants running towards him. Now who was wearing...oh no. The spigots were shaking again. Riku tried to wave off his would-be rescuer. "Namine, don't -"

Bananas - bunches of normal-sized bananas - launched onto the court. Namine promptly slipped, her forward momentum carrying her until she tripped over Riku's legs and collided into a still-kneeling Roxas. Xion screamed - but she wasn't looking at them.

The apple was coming back.

Axel dashed, cloaking himself in fire before slamming himself into the apple. The apple exploded, sending juice and chunks of burning fruit through the air. A large chunk ricocheted off a spigot, flying past all the brooms and into the goal net.

"So, uh, is that a point?"

* * *

"Axel, hold still." As one of only two players left standing, Xion was tasked with casting Cure on her teammates as Kairi said goodbye to the brooms. She had just finished healing everybody else. "There, all better! I mean, you're not bruised anymore. I don't think healing magic does much for, um, aroma."

Axel groaned. His hair was going to smell like burnt apple for days.

Kairi trotted back, a good deal more subdued than earlier. "The brooms were fine with ending the game early. They don't like getting too sticky. Oh, and they said we played well for our first time, and they had a lot of fun."

"At least somebody did," Axel said. "Kairi, Aqua recommended this game, right? I thought she liked you."

"Yes, but -"

"No buts. Even Larxene wouldn't have suggested Fruitball as a group activity. This was clearly a trap. Aqua's mad at us for something."

"She's not -"

"Did you make a pass at Ventus? He does look like Sora, so I'll understand if -"

"Axel, I don't know! Maybe Aqua forgot she's so much better than me. I'm sure Fruitball isn't a challenge for her." Kairi looked frazzled. "I'm sorry."

Okay, maybe he'd gone a bit far. Time to act nonchalant. "Meh, it's all good. I used to fight Heartless bigger than that every day. I was just surprised - who knew an apple would have a better track record against keyblade warriors than Xemnas?"

Riku chuckled. "Maybe Xehanort should've put his heart into pineapples instead of Nobodies?"

"Hoo boy. Organization 13, the Seekers of Fruit." Axel put on his best Old Xehanort voice. " 'Have you heard of the ancient Fruitball War?' "

That earned laughs all around, and a small smile from Kairi. Good.

Axel smirked. "Y'know, I could use a hug though."

Kairi shrank back, already guessing what Axel had in mind. "Ew, no. You're all sticky."

"Aw, come on! It would cheer me up."

"Don't you dare -"

"I thought you wanted to bond?"

"Get away from me!"

* * *

Kairi was a decent runner. But the mischievous Flurry of Dancing Apple Juice was on another level, and it wasn't long before she felt long arms surround her in a very gummy embrace. She couldn't really complain - it was an appropriate penance for inflicting a fruit-related near-death experience on her closest friends.

Kairi sighed. She'd lost sight of Riku and the others. So much for keeping the group together. Hopefully they were having fun exploring the rest of Disney Town without her.

Axel poked her cheek. "That's not a happy sigh. Is something wrong? I mean, besides how I'm tormenting you right now."

"I'm fine."

"Did you know that Princesses of Heart make terrible liars?" Axel shifted his arms so he could see Kairi's face. "Kairi, I grabbed you so we could talk. Today's not turning out the way you wanted, is it?"

"I don't know. I mean, I don't regret coming here, and I'm glad everybody's having a good time. It's just...this really isn't changing anything, is it? Namine's lack of a keyblade keeps coming up, and Riku and I aren't getting any closer to Roxas and Xion." Kairi sighed again. "We really could've just stayed home. Maybe my plan to bring everybody together was a bad idea."

"You're giving up that easily? Kairi, we've only gone on two trips so far. And you don't know my brilliant plan for the next one."

"You have an idea? Really?"

"Oh yeah. It's a surprise, but it's something I've wanted to try for a long time. Ever since my days in Organization 13, actually. Demyx told me about it."

"That...doesn't inspire confidence."

"You'll see. Everything's gonna work out great. Just trust in your Big Brother of Dancing Flames, okay?" Axel grinned. "I'd pat you on the head, but I don't want to ruin your hair. You'll have to imagine it."

"Thanks, Axel. This means a lot."

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah."

"That's good. Because we, uh, might be stuck to each other."

* * *

"Axel! Axel! We have to show you something!"

Riku watched with amusement as Xion and Roxas sprinted to their friend. Apparently just in time too.

"Roxas! Xion! Could you guys, like, grab onto Kairi and pull?"

Good thing Kairi's father wasn't going to miss that tracksuit.

Once separated, Roxas and Xion grabbed Axel's hands and ran off. Kairi followed at a more leisurely pace with Riku and Namine. "What's this about? Is it another ride, or...oh no."

Axel was in front a machine that looked like a cross between a cannon and a pipe organ. Overhead was a bright blue sign with the words 'Ye Olde Rhythmic Ice Shoppe: Ice Cream Beat.'

Axel was transfixed. "I've...I've come home. I've found my calling."

Riku turned to Kairi. "We asked one of the ducks who works here. Years ago, they got this machine for mixing ice cream flavors. It was missing a timing belt, but some kid found a way to run it manually by listening to music. So they turned it into a game: follow the music correctly, and you create 'the next taste sensation.' It's supposed to be really challenging."

Axel was running his hands over the machine. "I was born for this."

"This is so unfair," Kairi said. "I was trying to get us away from ice cream. Just for one day! Was that too much to ask?"

"I was _reborn _for this." Was Axel crying? "It all makes sense now. Every struggle - losing my heart, working for Xemnas all those years, getting a keyblade - it was all leading up to this moment! I am going to mix ice cream!"

"Um, Kairi? I don't think you're going to win this one," Namine said, looking apologetic. "Axel's really excited."

Kairi suddenly giggled. "It's fine. I'm glad Axel's happy."

Axel sat at the machine. Three ducks stood on a stage, holding ice cream cones. The music started.

"Oh my gosh!" Kairi said.

"The ducks are dancing!" Xion said.

"They're so cute!" Namine said.

After playing the game for thirty-five minutes and setting a new high score three times, Axel finally relented and turned the machine over to Roxas. One small problem: the ducks were tired.

"Oh! We could take their place!" Namine said. She grabbed Riku and Xion - Axel and Kairi were busy eating Axel's masterpiece, the 'Feel the Heat! Frozen Flurry' - and dragged them onto the stage as the music started up.

Riku wasn't sure why he'd allowed Namine to drag him onto the stage. Or why he hadn't jumped off immediately. Or why he was allowing Roxas - who, it turned out, didn't have the best sense of rhythm - to fling ice cream in his general direction. He _was _sure of one thing - Namine was having the time of her life, bopping to the music. Somehow it made the whole mess worthwhile, at least until the ice cream went up his nose.

Roxas played for several minutes until he accidentally hit Xion in the face, knocking her over. He promptly jumped off the machine and ran up to the stage.

"No! Xion!"

Xion sat up and cleared the ice cream from her eyes. "Roxas, I'm fine -"

"You can't die!"

"I'm not dying, you dummy, you just have terrible -"

"Xion...who else will I have ice cream with?"

Xion threw some ice cream at his face. "Roxas, snap out of it!"

Roxas calmed down but decided he was done. He took Riku's place on stage as Riku ran the machine.

Riku only tried the game once. He watched Namine dance the entire time and missed all of the music prompts.

* * *

Upon returning to the Gummi Bus, everybody rinsed themselves off with water magic and changed back into their regular clothes before taking off. Namine promptly fell asleep - the little dancing machine didn't have the best stamina - but everybody else quietly discussed which attraction had been the best. One thing was certain: none of them wanted to hear 'It's a Small World' ever again.


	5. Pain and Panic

Standing outside the Gummi Bus hatch, Axel did his best impression of a Twilight Town train conductor. "All aboard the Sea Salt Express!"

Riku frowned. "That is _not _the name of my ship."

"No talking back to your captain," Axel said. "Today's adventure is my idea. I'm keeping it a surprise, which means I'm the only one who can get us there. Ergo, my ship."

"...Kairi, I blame you for this."

"I'm sure it's fine," Kairi said. "Axel, you've piloted a Gummi ship before, right?"

"That's _Captain _Axel, and no I haven't, but how hard can it be? Go forward, go backward, turn left, turn right. I think I can handle moving in four directions. I won that go-kart race, didn't I?"

"Six."

"Huh?"

"Space is three-dimensional. There are six directions. And three angles of rotation."

"Even better!"

"Goodbye, old friend," Riku said, gently touching the side of the Gummi Bus as he and Kairi got onboard. "You were a good ship, lost before your time. We'll see each other again in the Final World, okay? Death is but a door."

Axel gestured again. "Final boarding call for the Sea Salt Express, 2pm Destiny Islands to points unknown. One piece of carry-on luggage per passenger. Please have your tickets out and ready for inspection."

Xion walked up. "I don't have a ticket. I spent all my money on ice cream."

"That's reasonable. Next in line, please."

Roxas walked up. "I was going to buy a ticket, but some guy in a black coat tripped me and stole my money."

"Happens all the time. Next!"

Namine walked up. "I drew a picture of you in a captain's hat."

"Magnificent."

* * *

Riku tried to relax. It had been a while since he'd been a passenger on a Gummi ship, instead of the pilot. Especially his own ship. The lack of control was uncomfortable - as were the benches; he'd have to remodel them later. Assuming the benches survived the trip -

_Why does fear seize your heart? Do you not trust your friend to lead you through the DARKNESS?_

...aaand there was his subconscious, talking like Xehanort's Heartless again. It had a point though, melodramatic as it was -

_My friends are my power!_

Yeah, Sora's voice was better for speeches like that. Although hearing Sora's voice in his head might be more madding in the long-term. Why didn't he ever get somebody serious, like Yen Sid or Aqua?

Anyway: Axel was Riku's friend. And Riku did trust his friends, no matter what the -

"...the intercom or the missile launcher? Why aren't these buttons labeled? Blinking light means...there we go! Ahem. Attention passengers: this is your Captain speaking. We are currently cruising at an altitude of...uh...we're in space. Temperature is zero, I guess? You are now free to move about the cabin. As a reminder, on this flight there is no eating or drinking, smoking, or removal of hearts with a magic sword. Thank you and enjoy the ride!"

"Riku, are you okay?" Kairi said. "You look almost as pale as your hair."

"Everything is fine," Riku lied convincingly.

"Oh!" Namine put down her sketchbook. "I know how we can pass the time. Riku, Xion, I haven't showed you my new memory-projection powers yet! Hmm...is there anything in particular you'd like to see?"

"Anything that does not involve flying," Riku said.

"Sora, not flying," Kairi said.

"Sora, not flying, fighting Heartless," Roxas said.

"Sora, not flying, fighting Heartless, saving somebody," Xion said.

"I have just the thing. Here you -"

_\- have just entered Agrabah's main plaza, and you're already surrounded by Bandit Heartless. You almost wish you were facing the recently-disposed Guard Armor instead - a spinning giant is somehow less intimidating than a dozen creatures of darkness with _scimitars_. Good thing you have a blade of your own._

_A few Shadows join the fray and are dispatched just as quickly. Wiping your brow, you realize the greatest threat in this world may not be darkness, but heat - a dry heat, better than Deep Jungle, but just as deadly to the unwary._

_The marketplace is devoid of people. No surprise - each corridor reveals more Bandits, more Shadows, and a new monstrosity of the dark: a large clay pot with four giant spider legs. Surely a Princess of Heart would never live among such -_

_"Who's there? Hello?"_

_You lower your blade; Heartless can't talk. So far._

_A young woman comes out from behind a stack of boxes. She's beautiful - and given the amount of gold she's wearing, almost certainly royalty. A princess, perhaps? Now you're getting somewhere._

_"I'm -"_

"Who is that!?" Kairi said. "Oops, sorry. Did I break the vision?"

"I just lost focus. Give me a minute," Namine said.

Kairi sighed. "Nice timing, me. Does anybody know who that was?"

"Princess Jasmine," Roxas said. "I spied on her for the Organization before. She was one of the original seven Princesses of Heart."

Xion turned to Kairi. "Wait, aren't you a Princesses of Heart? Don't you all know each other? Like, meetings in a large white room with impractically tall chairs?"

"The Princesses all came from different worlds," Roxas said. "They never actually met."

"Actually," Namine said, "they did all meet up once, in Hollow Bastion - except for you, Kairi. You had just gotten your heart back, I think? Let's see if I can -"

_\- enter the Castle Chapel. The lighting is an uncomfortable shade of green - Maleficent _is _gone, right? - but the faces you see put you at ease. Princesses of Heart, holding back the darkness of the Final Keyhole with their light. Some you know - Alice still has her head, thank goodness, and Jasmine is as strong as ever. Others you know by reputation - the woman in the library could only be Belle, exactly as the Beast had once described her between snarls. _

_The last three princesses are a cut above the rest, and indeed above anybody you've seen before. 'Princess' is insufficient - these women are _regal_. They are -_

"- so beautiful," Kairi said. "Sora told me about them, but I - I had no idea."

"I thought they were fighting the darkness?" Xion said. "Those dresses were huge! How could they possibly maneuver in them?"

"Maybe they use Aero?" Roxas said. "Like Xaldin and his spears."

"That makes perfect sense."

* * *

"Attention passengers: we have now arrived at our destination. Please be sure not to leave behind any luggage, hearts, or keyblades as you disembark. Thank you for flying the Sea Salt Express. Oh, and bonus points to the first person who figures out where we are!"

Kairi blinked as she exited the Gummi Bus, eyes adjusting to the sunlight. Sunlight, sand, dry heat - it felt like the Agrabah vision, but that couldn't be right. The buildings were completely different. As were the locals.

"Look, everybody is wearing sandals and skirts!" Namine said. "Good! I won't have to wear pants this time."

"They're called togas."

Kairi turned to Roxas. "You know where we are?"

"Yeah, this is Olympus. Sora's told you about Hercules, right? He lives here."

"Right you are!" Axel hopped out the Gummi Bus, looking like a kid in a Halloweentown candy shop. He started leading them down the main road. "Roxas, you went on a bunch of missions to this world, right? Care to give us a tour?"

"It looks a little different from what I remember. Most of the buildings were, uh, still standing when I visited. What happened?"

"Hades happened," Riku said. "While Xehanort was making his big push, one of the local gods tried to take over. Sora and Hercules stopped him, but it looks like the city's still rebuilding."

"No worries," Axel said. He pointed to a massive structure at the end of the road. "Only one building we care about. Behold the Coliseum!"

"Oh!" Namine said. "Sora's been there several times. Are we going to watch a tournament? How exciting!"

"You're close! Guess again."

"But there's nothing else to do here," Roxas said. "If we're not going to watch a tournament, then - oh no. Axel, does your plan involve something that Kairi is going to murder you for suggesting?"

Kairi frowned. "Axel, why am I murdering you now? What is this 'brilliant plan' of yours?"

"My plan is, why spectate when you can be a part of the action?"

Kairi frowned more. "What!?"

Axel gestured to a posting near the Coliseum entrance. "Ta-da! Time for all of us to show off our training! And what better way than on the grandest stage of them all, surrounded by adoring fans as we face off against the legions of darkness?"

"What!?"

"We're gonna be in a tournament! They have 'em all the time in this world. I always wanted to go, back in my Organization days, but Xemnas always sent Xigbar, Roxas, or Demyx instead. Demyx! I still haven't forgiven Xemnas for that."

"What!?"

"And they use live Heartless! How cool is that?." Axel read the posting. "What's on for today..."

"Axel, I think you broke her," Roxas said, waving his arm in Kairi's face. "Kairi, it's fine. I've done this before. I even won once. You fight Heartless for several rounds, and then you fight a champion."

Xion stepped in. "Besides, Axel wouldn't put us in danger. This sounds like fun! It feels like forever since we've been in a real fight."

"...maybe." Kairi took a deep breath. "Okay, we'll sign up for the - the -" Kairi stammered as she read the posting, "- the _'Pain and Panic Cup'_!? AXEL!"

"The name's just a marketing ploy! Come on. We fought Organization 13 together. A handful of Heartless isn't a threat. And look! The tournament requires three-person teams, and there's six of us. Me, Roxas, and Xion on one team, and then Riku, you, and -"

"No."

Everybody turned to Riku.

"Namine is not participating."

"Don't be a -"

"Axel, Namine. Does. Not. Have. A. Keyblade."

"Riku!" Kairi whispered, "ixnay on the eblade-kay!"

Axel shrugged. "I'm sure there are plenty of weapons in the Coliseum. Namine can just borrow -"

"I don't care if Namine borrows the Ultima weapon and gets a permission slip from Yen Sid. We are not putting her in danger."

"It's okay," Namine said softly. "I understand."

Kairi felt her princess heart melt. "Namine..."

"But, um, a team can only have three people right? So we're entering one team, and me and two others cheer them on?"

Everybody looked at each other.

"I'll sit with you," Riku said, not looking Namine in the eye. "This was Axel's idea, so his team should enter. Him and Roxas and Xion. Uh, sorry, Kairi."

"But Riku, you're our master," Roxas said. "We want to win, right? You have to participate. Axel and me and you, and - uh -"

"And not me?" Xion glared.

"Uh...well, we have the most experience, and...um..."

"If we're going by experience, then it should be me, you, and Master Riku -"

"Not feeling the love, Xion," Axel said.

"- since we've had our keyblades the longest. Why are you leaving me out, if 'we want to win'? You think I'm not as strong as you three?"

"Er...all three of us _have _beaten you on separate occasions, eh heh..."

"Roxas, li'l buddy, this is not the time to bring up -"

Kairi finally found her voice. "This is all beside the point. This trip was supposed to be a group activity. If we're not all participating, then let's find something else to do."

"Why does it have to be all of us?" Xion said.

"We're already here," Roxas said. "And I've actually won a tournament before."

"And I haven't? Is that it?" Kairi said.

"What? No!"

"I have a keyblade too! I've been training just as hard as you! Just because I didn't travel to as many worlds, or - or hold back the darkness with the other Princesses, or..."

Kairi knew she was getting away from her original point, but she couldn't stop herself. Seeing the (older, beautiful, strong) Princesses in Hollow Bastion had been a shock. Namine had assumed Kairi had been left out because she had just gotten her heart back. Kairi hadn't voiced the truth - that Sora had _told _her fourteen-year-old self to stay behind, because she would just 'get in the way'. And, at the time, Kairi had agreed. She wondered how Sora would feel about her now, when he finally reappeared -

_Kairi, I'm back! Sorry it took so long. I actually went on a mission to recruit the original Princesses of Heart. Meet Alice, Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, and Aurora. Turns out they all have keyblades now! Aren't they amazing? We've all gotten really close over the last few weeks. I was supposed to recruit you too, but I, uh, kinda forgot?_

\- and if the past several weeks of training had made any difference at all.

Kairi realized everybody was staring at her.

Axel coughed. "Guys, look. I guess the tournament might sound crazy. None of us have been in a 'real' battle since Xehanort. But this still isn't 'real' - sure, there are Heartless, but it's in a stadium. Just like the Light Cycles, right? 'Controlled, self-contained environment', or however that went. If it gets too hot to handle, we can just quit."

Axel grinned. "Besides, we _beat _Xehanort, didn't we? And Namine has fancy magical mind-zappy powers now. We got this."

After a moment, Namine said something unintelligible.

"Huh?"

"...I want to participate," Namine said.

Riku looked uncomfortable. "Nami-"

"Breath, should I take a deep? Faith, should I take a leap?"

"It's not -"

"Let me face, let me face, let me face my fears!"

"...yeah, okay."

"Yes!" Axel cheered. "Alright, so it's me and Roxas and -"

"No." Xion was still glaring. "I don't want to be on a team with Roxas."

Roxas glared back. "That's fine with me."

Axel blinked. "Alright, uh, Xion and -"

Xion shook her head. "I want to be on a team with Kairi."

"...so boys/girls then?"

"No," Riku said. "I have to be on the same team as Namine."

"Fine! Me, Kairi, and Xion on one team, and Riku, Roxas, and Namine on the other. Are we happy now?"

* * *

Axel did his best to keep up his trademark grin as the group entered the Coliseum lobby. He'd planned out the entire trip, from forcing Riku to give up the keys (so to speak) to the Gummi Bus, to their inevitable victory over whatever spiky-haired guy showed up for the final round. He'd memorized every step, none of which included arguing.

Looking at it objectively...it was all Riku's fault. Revenge for daring to breathe on the controls of his beloved Gummi ship, no doubt. But that was fine. Axel wasn't vindictive. Not until they faced each other in the tournament, at least.

Speaking of...

Axel turned to Roxas. "So how do we sign up?"

"With him." Roxas pointed to a squat half-human with goat horns and legs. "Phil! Remember me?"

The goat-thing - 'Phil' - turned around. "Well, if it isn't the junior hero! Where are your other friends? You running with a new crowd now?"

Roxas was a 'junior hero'? He hadn't mentioned that at the Organization 13 staff meetings. Or maybe...

Better step in. "Hi, name's Axel. And this is _not _Sora, if that's what you're thinking."

Roxas twitched but kept going. "I visited a few years ago. Won the tournament, beat a guy with an eye patch?"

Phil squinted. "...am I seeing things? Rookie, is that you?"

"Eh heh, yeah, it's me," Roxas said. Axel couldn't blame Roxas for feeling bashful - this Phil was apparently the only person in all the worlds who remembered him. Didn't have his name memorized, though.

"How've ya been, kid? I was gettin' worried about ya, what with fire-head and his buddies knocking over everything from here to Athens. Keeping up with trainin'?"

Axel stepped in again - this was his brilliant plan, after all. "Yes he has! In fact, that's why we're here. My little buddy told us all about your world-famous Coliseum. He insisted we enter a tournament -"

"I what?"

"- and you just can't say no to that face, am I right? So is there a form to fill out, or can we just walk in to the main event?"

Phil looked amazed. "Participants? Really? Er, I mean...normally I don't let newbies sign up this close to the opening bell, but I guess I can make an exception just this once."

Alright. Everything was back on track. The arguments from a few minutes ago were already fading from memory - and once they stood victorious, together, then Kairi would relax about -

"You all got your Hero Licenses ready?"

What? "Er, license?"

"Yeah. This is the world-famous Coliseum - heroes only. I'll take entry passes too, if you're just starting out."

Demyx hadn't mentioned that! "I, uh, must've left the passes in my other coat...eh..."

Suddenly Riku stepped up. "We're heroes."

"Oh really," Phil said. "Look kid, guys like you show up every week. Spiky hair, belts, fancy swords - you got a fancy sword kid?"

Riku smirked and summoned his keyblade. "You could say that."

The others summoned their keyblades. Namine shuffled behind Kairi.

"Of course ya do. Like I was sayin', guys like you are a dime a dozen -"

"I'm a Keyblade Master."

"And I'm sure your mother's real proud of ya. Like I was sayin', half the guys who show up ain't even seen a Heartless before -"

"We have a Princess of Heart."

"Princesses get sword trainin' where you come from? Anyways, like I was sayin', we can't just let anybody in. The Heartless would eat 'em alive -"

"We've been fighting Heartless for years. We just defeated Xehanort."

"Never heard of him. Anyways, like I was sayin', Hades would love it if we just fed every yutz we got to the Heartless, but Zeus wouldn't. He already shut down the Underdrome for, and I quote, 'senseless violence.' And half those participants were already dead."

"You're really afraid of this 'Zeus' guy?"

"I got two words for ya: Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων."

"Excuse me!" Kairi flashed her trademark Princess of Heart smile. "I know we may not look like much, but we have been training really hard. My friends would be terribly disappointed if we couldn't participate. And I'm sure that _none _of us would even _consider _doing anything foolish or needlessly violent. Isn't that _right_, guys?"

Said question was asked with an expression that was _not _a Princess of Heart smile. Five cowed voices quickly rang out in agreement.

"So could you maybe bend the rules a little bit? Just this once?"

"Welllll..." said Phil, who wasn't fooling anybody, "my star attraction is busy puttin' up buildings at the moment, so I guess I could squeeze ya in."

"Thank you so much!"

* * *

Waiting just outside the stadium entrance, Riku tried to calm his nerves. Sure, he had beaten the forces of DARKNESS! more times than he could count - just not with a stadium full of people watching.

Best not to think about it. Instead of staring at the door, Riku would look at...Namine? Sure, why not. Namine was blinking slowly (preparing her mental powers?) while wearing the most adorable determined expression Riku had ever seen. Her hands were balled into fists, presumably because they had no weapon to hold onto.

Now that was another wrinkle. Riku was used to fighting alongside Mickey, not an innocent girl who was all courage and no keyblade. He'd have to keep an eye on her.

Namine caught him staring. "Is something wrong?"

"You need a weapon," Riku quickly improvised. "Even if you don't use it, you don't want to appear vulnerable. Some of the smarter Heartless pick up on stuff like that."

Namine pouted. "It's a little late to be telling me that! At least I wore a skirt with pockets. Let's see...colored pencils...eraser...seashells...pass to Disneytown...oh, Even's inkblot tests! Those are kind of intimidating."

Roxas picked something off the ground. "How about this?"

"Roxas, that's a stick."

"Can the Heartless even tell?" Roxas handed the stick to Namine. "Just wave it around before you mind-zap them; they'll think it's a magic wand or something."

With a rumble, the stadium doors opened. Riku shielded his eyes against the sudden flash of sunlight as the team walked into the stadium, surrounded by the multitudes of -

Empty seats?

Mostly empty. Phil was at the other end of the stadium, giving orders to somebody. Axel, Kairi, and Xion were in the front row of the stands on the left side. Further up, Riku thought he could see one of the locals, fast asleep. The only other spectators were birds.

In the front row, Axel and Xion were both pouting. Kairi, in contrast, had apparently decided to act as an entire audience by herself.

"You can do it! We believe in you! Namine, sweetie, be careful!"

With some prodding, Axel got in on the cheering.

"Destiny Islands, represent! Burn the opposition!"

Xion remained stone-faced, though in the relative silence of the stadium, Riku swore he heard her mutter to Axel something like "...carrying a stick...had to be Roxas's idea…can't believe..."

Another rumble, and the opposition arrived.

Riku counted. Four Hook Bats. Several Rapid Thrusters, moving too quickly to count. And two massive Bolt Towers.

Riku and Roxas summoned their keyblades. Roxas switched to a stance that was much less aggressive than usual - it looked suspiciously like Sora's stance in the Agrabah vision - and then turned to Riku.

"What's the plan?"

Right. This trip was Axel's idea, but Riku was still the Master. Time to step up.

"We've got too many targets out of reach. Namine, use your powers on as many of the flying enemies as possible. Put them in a vision with an enclosed space. Roxas, you and I can use the Towers as platforms to pick them off. Don't bother deflecting the lightning attacks unless they're aimed at Namine. Once the flyers are out, take your Tower down."

That felt _good_.

The Heartless were on the move. Riku grinned. "Long-range attacks first. Namine, hit it."

"Um, I already am? I started as soon as they showed up."

The Heartless weren't stopping.

Roxas turned to Namine. "Have you, uh, ever used your powers on Heartless before?"

"No, my powers used to only work on people connected to Sora. But I thought I was past that." Namine frowned. "This is weird. It worked this morning..."

"Namine, Heartless aren't people," Riku said. "Your powers work by messing with memories, right? Do Heartless even have memories?"

"Oh," Namine said. "Oh dear. I hadn't thought of that."

"Okay, new plan. Roxas, you and I deflect Tower lightning into the flyers. Namine, try to -"

And the Heartless were upon them.

* * *

"Rookie, I don't know _what _you were playin' at - bringing a scrub without any fightin' skills at _all _\- but you're outta the tournament."

Phil stomped off.

Roxas stomped off in the opposite direction.

"I'm so sorry," Namine said. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have dropped my stick. I was just so startled -"

Riku shook his head. "I've never seen a Hook Bat actually use his hook to pick somebody up before. And you still managed to kill it." Namine's colored pencils were _sharp_.

"Thanks for catching me."

"My pleas- you're welcome."

"Do you think Roxas will be okay? I still want to apologize to him. That was just so - so - I'm really glad only our friends were watching."

"Me too. Well, Axel and the others are up next. We should cheer them on."

"Um, Riku? You can put me down now."

"Oh, right."

* * *

Axel walked through the stadium entrance with considerably less enthusiasm than he'd intended. He'd planned out the entire entrance - a little chakram action, a leaping flame or two - but who was he going to impress? The birds? And nobody would ever hear his 'Axel's Angels' entrance music.

At least Kairi was happy. She was currently waving to Namine, who was yelling some unintelligible encouragement.

Xion was looking at the stands as well. "Roxas isn't here."

Axel shrugged. "I'm not surprised. He just got kicked out of the tournament. I'd need time to cool off too."

"I know, but - it's _us_. You and me. I thought he'd be here..."

"If you're mad, take it out on the Heartless, yeah?"

"I'm not mad." And, indeed, Xion didn't sound mad. She almost sounded...scared?

A rumble, and the Heartless appeared. A lot of Heartless. Two Soldiers, six Aeroplanes, two Assault Riders, and one of those stupid purple dogs.

Good. Axel needed to burn things. Besides, after all the trouble they went to just to get into the tournament, the actual fight would be easy in comparison.

Axel shared a look with Xion. She was grinning too. They summoned their keyblades simultaneously, and Kairi -

\- had just taken out the Soldiers and was running towards an Assault Rider.

Hoo boy. "Xion, can you take out the mutt and the other Rider while I keep Kairi from getting herself killed?"

"On it. Puppy!"

Axel fire-dashed to Kairi, tackling her to the ground before the Rider's glaive could take her head off. "Hi Kairi! Is this a singles tournament, or can anybody join?"

"I can stop this guy myself! And -"

"Yeah, but you don't have to. Group activity, right?" Axel turned his keyblade into its chakram form. "I can stay out of his reach. While I do that, can you take care of the six Aeroplanes before they strafe us and we all die?"

"Yeah. Okay." Kairi ran off.

Well that was weird. Since when was Kairi the reckless one? And Axel the voice of reason?

Two flame-covered chakrams to the face, and the Rider was down. Axel looked across the stadium. Only three of the Aeroplanes were left. Good.

Kairi, apparently out of magic, was swatting her keyblade in the air and yelling at the Aeroplanes to land already. Less good.

Xion...was doing the same as Kairi. Huh?

Axel took out the last three enemies with a well-aimed Explosion, then ran over to his teammates. "What are you doing?"

Kairi wrung her hands. "I ran out of magic, and I'm not used to fighting flying enemies yet -"

"Yeah, I figured that." Axel turned to Xion. "I meant you. Xion, three Aeroplanes should've been nothing for you."

"I've never seen them before."

Axel started gesturing as he spoke. "They're flying Heartless. You hit them until they stop flying!"

"I wasn't sure, and I thought Kairi knew how to deal -"

_Oh, you're not sure? What, did they forget to build you with common sense? Oh, come on, don't look shocked. You already know you're a Replica._

"Oh, you're not sure? What, did they forget to build you with common sense?"

"Axel!"

_What's your problem? You think you can do whatever you want. Well, I'm sick of it. Go on, you just keep running._

"What's your problem? You think you can do whatever you want. Well, I'm sick of it."

"Axel, I'm sorry!"

"Axel, that's enough!"

Axel stopped. Kairi was furious. Xion was near tears.

"Xion...I...I..."

Axel dashed out the stadium door.

* * *

Roxas's team had been disqualified. Axel's team had forfeited. For them, the tournament was over.

In fact, the entire tournament was over, as nobody else had signed up.

Kairi was okay with that.

It didn't take long for Kairi to find Axel - there were no clock towers in Olympus, so he was on top of one of the Coliseum pillars instead - but calming him down was another matter.

"I snapped at Xion."

"Yes you did," Kairi said, "but you're going to make it up to her, and realizing that you -"

"I snapped at Xion."

"Admitting it is the first step. Next is -"

"Kairi, you don't get it. This is about more than just breaking Xion's heart. You asked me to help bring everybody together, and instead I snapped. At Xion. That's not helping. That's the opposite of helping." Axel sighed. "And Roxas is acting weird, and everything I did to include Namine backfired. The next time I tell you I have a brilliant plan, hit me with your keyblade, okay?"

"I could hit you now and get it over with."

That got a chuckle. Good.

Kairi sat down next to Axel. Just like in their training days. "You once said 'Being a Somebody is pretty easy for me.' That's not true, is it?"

"Guess not."

"You started out with a heart, sure, but then you lost it. For a decade. Xemnas took advantage of you. Your best friend couldn't help because he was in the same situation." Hug time. "I'm sorry. I should've realized all this sooner."

"Me too."

"Axel, you lost your temper. And now you feel guilty. You might not remember, but that sort of thing happens when you have a heart. You're not turning into a Nobody again. Although you might be turning into Donald Duck." Kairi stood up and offered a hand to Axel. "Come on. The others are worried about you."

* * *

"In conclusion, we might've lost the tournament, but we tried, and...we're all still here, so it's not like the Heartless won...losing is a thing...in fact, we're the real winners, for losing..."

Once again, Riku wished Sora was around to give the pep talk.

The group had reconvened in the Coliseum lobby. With the tournament over, tempers had cooled enough for everybody to stop fighting each other. Now everybody was just miserable in general. At least they were too caught up in their own problems to listen to his speech.

Phil walked in. "Hey, keymaster, I'd like a word with ya."

"Yeah, sure. One moment" Looking at his teammates, Riku knew he had to say something -

_Do not run from the DARKNESS! Embrace it!_

\- and that was not it. But 'embrace'..."Okay, cooldown exercise. Everybody take turns hugging each other. I'll be right back."

Riku walked over to Phil. "I'd like to apologize -"

"Save it. Like I said before, this happens all the time. Just wanted to let you know that you have potential. You might even be junior hero material. Unfortunately -"

"One moment. Axel, let Xion breathe! Sorry, please continue."

"Like I was sayin', unfortunately there ain't gonna be any more tournaments for a while. I know it's hard to believe, but you're actually the first participants we've had in weeks. And I cannot, in good conscience, let your friends try again."

"Yeah, I don't think you have to worry about that."

"Good. But you keep on trainin' in the meantime, yeah? Well, I'm gonna go clean up. See ya around, kid."

* * *

Riku yawned as he piloted the Gummi Bus. The tournament hadn't been physically strenuous, but Olympus was a long way from Destiny Islands. It was already evening.

Kairi walked into the cockpit, sitting down in the copilot's seat with a huff. "Everyone's asleep."

"That's good."

"They're all sitting as far away from each other as possible."

"That's less good."

"Riku, what am I doing wrong? A week ago, we were all getting along just fine. It wasn't perfect, but we were still on speaking terms with each other. Now it's all falling apart."

"It was just a bad day -"

"I'm serious! Everything was great until I opened my mouth. Are we sure I'm still a Princess of Heart?"

"You're over-"

"I'm doing a better job of dividing us than Xehanort. I didn't even need a magic rock maze or anything."

"Kairi! Don't even joke like that!"

Kairi sniffled.

"Listen. I believed in what you said, about helping our friends get used to their new lives. I still do. Your only mistake was in thinking your Princess status would make it easy. If we could solve every problem with sea-salt ice cream and a pass to Disney Town, there wouldn't be any darkness in people's hearts." Riku squeezed Kairi's hand. "Xemnas did terrible things to our friends. Helping them is going to take time. Things will go wrong. But that's never stopped us before."

"...you're right. Thanks." Kairi rubbed her eyes. "When did you get so smart?"

"I had Xehanort's Heartless in my head for over a year. I learned a lot about persistence. And patience."

"So what do we do now?"

"Now? We go home. I think we've been trying too hard. If we want to help our friends with normal life, then let's go back to our old routine for a while, and -"

The Gummiphone rang.

Riku blanched. Only a few people, in the entire universe, had Riku's Gummiphone number. Most of them wouldn't call Riku unless it was an emergency. Yen Sid, Aqua, Mickey, -

"It's Ansem the Wise!" Kairi pressed a few buttons. "Ansem, it's me and Riku. You're on speaker."

"Ah, good. No time for pleasantries, I'm afraid. I just received a message from young Pence -"

"Pence? How?"

"Several weeks ago, he and Ienzo connected the Radiant Garden network to the computer I had left in the Old Mansion. Ienzo had needed Roxas's data memories for his replica body. Most fortunate. Are you familiar with the Underground Concourse near the Mansion?"

"Yeah."

"Pence and his friends visited the Underground this morning. They barely escaped a swarm of 'monsters, not the white squiggly ones, but the little shadow things with the yellow eyes.' Pence also mentioned he couldn't contact Roxas."

"He's with us. We were out of town today. How many Heartless we talking about?"

"Scores of them from the sound of it. They haven't left the Underground yet. Regardless, -"

Kairi almost jumped out of her seat. "That's perfect!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean, it's perfect that we're already together and on the Gummi ship. We've got Axel and Xion too. We can handle this!"

"Splendid! I shall inform Pence that you are on your way. He and his friends are staying at the Old Mansion for now."

"We'll meet them there. Thanks!"

Kairi pressed a button to end the call. Riku stared at her.

"Okay, I'll go and tell everyone that -"

"...Kairi."

"What?"

"What happened to helping our friends adjust to normal life? The others are in no condition to fight right now. I was planning to drop everybody off at Destiny Islands and handle the Heartless myself."

"You were going to hide this from Roxas? Hayner, Olette, and Pence were his friends first, you know. He'd hate you forever."

"He can hate me all he wants, as long as he stays safe."

"Don't say that. And what makes you think I would sit this out? That any of us would? This is bigger than the six of us. Besides, this might be just what we need. Once everybody realizes that we have each other's backs as we save an _entire city_, we'll grow closer for sure!"

Riku didn't know how to respond. The Keyblade Master in him was screaming that their 'team' was a mess of bruised feelings and fragile egos, none of which bode well for an underground Heartless battle. But -

_This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness...soon to be completely eclipsed. All shall be extinguished._

-Kairi was right. People were in danger. Not just Hayner and his friends - an entire city. Maybe even a world. Fighting on his own would be more than reckless - it would be negligent.

There was no choice to make after all.

"Changing course. We're on our way to Twilight Town."


	6. Veiling Twilight

It was early morning in Twilight Town when the Gummi Bus finally landed outside the Old Mansion. Well, early morning according to the Gummi Bus computer. Kairi had offered to pilot half of the trip so Riku could get some sleep. Between that, the previous day's events, and landing on a world in perpetual twilight, Riku's internal clock had given up.

Riku watched as his five bleary-eyed, grumbling friends filed out of the Gummi Bus. At least he wasn't the only one still trying to wake up, although it did not bode well for a day of Heartless-hunting.

Roxas, eager to confirm that his old friends were okay, was the first inside the Old Mansion. Hayner greeted him with a convoluted series of hand and arm gestures, while Olette responded with a simple wave. Pence, busy in the kitchen with pancakes that had the most amazing smell _ever_, waved as well.

"We're the unofficial guardians of Twilight Town," Olette explained as she set the dining room table. "Ansem didn't like the idea, but Pence is the only one who knows how to run the computer link between here and Ansem's lab. And Seifer's 'Disciplinary Committee' is out on some kind of journey."

"When something unusual shows up, we get to send out the alarm," Pence said as he placed stacks of pancakes on the table. "This mansion's like our secret lair now. I stocked it with all the essentials -"

"He means ice cream. I brought everything else."

"- so if things get really bad, we can hold out in here."

"At least until we get our own keyblades," Hayner said as everybody made a mad dash for the food. "Sure would be nice if _somebody _told us how to summon 'em. Roxas, how much longer we gotta wait? Quit holdin' out on us!"

Roxas stopped chewing long enough to roll his eyes.

"And don't say we're not 'worthy', or we have to be 'connected', or whatever." Hayner smirked. "I figure, if you can get one, anyone can."

Namine dropped her fork.

"I want to know more about the Heartless in the Underground," Riku said as he changed the subject with the subtlety of a Minute Bomb. "Ansem said you found a swarm of them?"

"Yeah, mostly the little ones with the antennas," Pence said, holding his index fingers above his head in approximation of a Shadow. "And a few with the helmets, and one or two of the little flying coffee-pot guys."

Roxas turned to Riku. "The usual then. Nothing we can't handle. Er, you don't think it's a Demon Tide, do you?"

"I hope not. I like this shirt." Riku finished his coffee. "I'm more concerned about why they're showing up now."

"You think there's a Darkside summoning them?"

"I was thinking Maleficent."

Axel gestured dramatically. "Place your bets now, folks! Alright, we've got one for Maleficent, and one for a Darkside. Me, I'm gonna say Guardian Heartless." Axel pointed his fork. "Xion?"

"Mm...I'm thinking another Powered Armor. It doesn't fit in the Underground, so it's getting Shadows to help carry it out."

"Namine?"

"Maybe Shadow Globs?"

"Kairi?"

"Ah...another Xehanort? Like, he hid a spare in the Underground."

The room went quiet. Briefly.

"Oh please no," Namine said.

"Can I change my answer? I like that one." Xion said.

"Like, another time-traveling Xehanort?" Roxas said. "Or a replica Xehanort? Ooh, or a time-traveling replica Xehanort that split himself into a Heartless and a Nobody!"

"I'm not hungry anymore," Riku said.

"Does anybody here know Meteor? Or Zettaflare?" Axel said. "Here's the plan: we see anybody with a black coat and yellow eyes? We run back to the Gummi Bus and nuke the Underground from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." He turned to Hayner. "That means certain death for you three, and I'm sorry, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

* * *

"This is the lamest Heartless infestation ever," Axel said.

After breakfast, Hayner and Olette had led everybody with a keyblade into the Underground. Namine and Pence were still at the Mansion, ready to signal Ansem for reinforcements if a squad of Behemoths suddenly burst from the ground. And also make lunch.

Riku had practically begged Namine to stay behind. He agreed with Kairi's desire to keep the group together in general, but this was a Heartless hot zone. Images had gone through Riku's mind: Namine trapped in a Parasite Cage, Namine engulfed in a Demon Tide, Namine meeting Maleficent. Those were _not_ going to happen.

And indeed they weren't. Because the Underground was empty.

Well, that was unfair. There _was _a Heartless presence; Shadow Globs were stuck on a few of the walls, and every other corridor had a Shadow or two. They'd even come across a squad of very confused Air Soldiers repeatedly banging into the ceiling.

But the main swarm was missing. True, they'd only been searching for thirty minutes, and the Underground was very large, but Heartless weren't known for subtlety. Sound traveled very well in the silent corridors; they should've heard the swarm by now, even if they couldn't see it.

"Maybe the swarm dispersed?" Xion said.

"Nah, we'd be seeing more in each corridor then," Axel said. "I bet they're hiding. Cowards! Come out and fight like men! Darkness-spawned, bug-eyed, creepy little men!"

Axel had a point. Riku trusted Hayner and his friends; if they said they saw a Heartless swarm, then there was a Heartless swarm. Dispersion would mean -

"What are you hiding for? We just want to hit you with our keyblades until you die!"

\- that the Heartless would spread throughout the Underground. Which had happened, but not in large numbers. So either -

" 'Ooh, look at me, I'm a big scary Heartless, but I just can't face that guy with the red hair! He's so much more powerful than me! And handsome!' "

\- the Heartless had returned to the Realm of Darkness voluntarily, or the swarm was still -

"You know what your problem is? You lack heart! Because you're Heartless!"

"Axel!" Kairi said. "How much coffee did you drink this morning?"

"As much as humanly possible," Axel said. "Why? Just trying to get their attention."

"That's...not a bad idea, actually. Better than just walking around," Xion said. She then started shouting. "Oh no! We seem to be lost in the Underground!"

"Just a bunch of hearts, full of darkness! Sure would be a shame if something happened to us!" Roxas shouted.

"And a Princess of Heart! No darkness, but easy to kidnap!" Axel shouted.

"...excuse me?"

"Boy, we sure have been walking a long time!" Olette shouted. "I'm exhausted! I couldn't run if my life depended on it!"

"I definitely couldn't dropkick anything!" Hayner shouted.

Eh, why not. "And we certainly don't have keyblades!" Riku shouted.

"We've never even seen a Heartless before!" Namine shouted.

Wait, what? "Namine!? Where did you come from?"

Suddenly Pence ran up. "Guys! I can't find Namine! I think she - oh."

Riku put on his best disappointed Master face. "Namine. Why are you here?"

Namine smiled cheekily. "I was getting worried! You've been gone for so long -"

"It's been thirty minutes."

"And I'm sure you're very hungry! I brought cookies."

"Fmo fwhat fnow?" Axel said. "Fwould fwe -"

"Axel, don't talk with your mouth full," Kairi said.

Axel swallowed. "So what now? Should we split up?"

Riku didn't like the idea - assuming there was still a swarm, meeting it with fewer people was a bad idea. But the Underground was a lot bigger than Riku had realized - facing the swarm with a full team exhausted from walking wouldn't be much better. Splitting up gave a better chance of somebody finding the swarm before that happened.

"Yeah, alright. Two teams. Olette, you got me and Kairi. Hayner, you got Roxas, Xion, and Axel."

Roxas and Xion looked at each other but said nothing.

"If you find the swarm first, make some noise and we'll come running." Riku turned to Namine. "And you are going back to the Mansion with Pence."

"No."

"What?"

"Riku, you're not the only one who can sense darkness. If you can't find the Heartless, then we should _all _search."

"This isn't the Coliseum -"

"No, it isn't. We're not stuck fighting in a big empty stadium - if something goes wrong, I can run and hide." Namine pouted. "Riku, you need me."

"Ngh. Fine. You're on my team. Pence, you can go back to the Mansion, or you can join Hayner."

"Alright!" Pence and Hayner exchanged high-fives.

"Um, master?" Xion said. "The teams are a little unbalanced. Maybe I should join -"

"Oh no you don't." Axel grabbed Xion in a hug.

"Aah!"

"Riku's team already has three girls. We're keeping you."

"Everybody, stick to your teams," Riku said, ignoring whatever caffeine-based nonsense was coming out of Axel's mouth. "Remember, we're not sure what's out there, or what caused this infestation in the first place. Whatever happens, _stay together_."

* * *

"...and I don't think of you as just a replica. I never did, even back in the Organization. I never saw you as a puppet - that was Xigbar's thing, although he always said 'poppet', which I think he picked up from some pirates? It means 'doll', I know that much."

"Axel, I already said I forgive -"

"Xigbar was always trying to act cool. Is that why Xemnas sent him to the Coliseum, instead of me? I bet it was. The point is, those things I said yesterday? I didn't mean them. I'm not even sure where they came from. I feel like I've said them before? Doesn't matter. I didn't mean any of it, this time, assuming there was a time before. And I'm sure I didn't mean it before either. You have plenty of common sense, and you're strong, and you're cute as a button. And you look like Kairi, who is also my friend. I'm not saying you're adorable just because you look like Kairi. But you're identical to a princess, and that's pretty neat. You ever try trading places, just to mess with people?"

" 'Cute as a button?' What does that -"

"I would totally do that if I had a twin. I had a Nobody, but that doesn't count. I definitely wouldn't trade places with him. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's responsible for all the horrible things I said yesterday. I'm really sorry about that."

"I know -"

"I was just so high-strung yesterday, you know? I had this brilliant plant, we were gonna win the Tournament, and it was gonna be the greatest day ever. Even better than when we defeated Xehanort. Which isn't that hard, 'cause we all died that time. Didn't we? I can't remember. Anyways, I saw the Coliseum, and I was just so excited, and then we had that argument with Phil - speaking of, Roxas, I am so sorry he flipped out on you. That was totally my fault too."

"Axel, you are never allowed near coffee again."

"Maybe I can talk to Phil about letting you back in? 'Course, I'm sure he doesn't want to see me either. I ruined the entire Tournament. Wow, I didn't even think of that. We were the only participants, right? I should apologize to Phil, right after -"

"Axel, enough!" Roxas said. "We. Forgive. You."

"Did you apologize to Kairi this much?" Xion said.

"What, for kidnapping her? Yeah, actually. She begged me to stop after three days, and - Hayner, I see you smirking over there. Kairi totally forgave me. We're best friends now. Anyways, the bottom line is, I'm really glad the three of us are simpatico again."

Roxas and Xion looked at each other.

" 'Cause you two have been kinda twitchy the past few weeks, especially around each other, and I was starting to worry -"

"Look! A Heartless!" Roxas said, pointing at a Shadow down the end of a corridor. "I'm on it!" Roxas raced down the corridor, with Hayner right behind him.

"Roxas, wait!" Xion said. But it was too late - Roxas had already destroyed the Shadow and turned down another corridor. By the time they reached it, Roxas and Hayner were nowhere to be seen.

"What do we do now?" Xion said. "Master told us to stay together."

"Nnn...Roxas was chasing Heartless, so...Pence, which way leads deeper into the Underground? Bet there's more as we go further in."

Pence led the way through several twists and turns, none of which revealed Roxas or Hayner.

"Guys, I see someone!" Xion took off, leading them to a dead-end containing...

...somebody who was _not _Roxas.

The man was facing the wall, sitting cross-legged in some sort of meditative position. His silver hair went down the full length of his back, overlapping the large collar on his black coat. A single blue-and-black feathered wing hung over one shoulder.

The man suddenly stood up and turned around, unsheathing a sword nearly three meters long. After several seconds of regarding them with a look usually reserved for small annoying children, he finally spoke in a tone of pure boredom.

"Hmph. You three...who are you?"

* * *

"That path's a dead end," Kairi said. "Where next, stud?"

Riku nodded to Olette. "Which way further in?"

"This way, handsome," Olette said. Kairi and Namine giggled.

Riku did his best to keep up his masterly facade. He honestly hadn't intended to put himself on an all-girls team. He hadn't even realized it until Axel brought it up. Now he was enduring a lengthy search through the Underground with three people who thought calling him 'heartbreaker', 'lady-killer', and 'silver-haired fox' was the funniest thing _ever_. In the back of his mind, he swore he could hear Shiki laughing at him.

Looking at it objectively...it was all Axel's fault. Revenge for not letting Axel pilot his beloved Gummi ship often enough, no doubt.

Not that Riku was unhappy with his team. Keeping Namine in his sights meant she couldn't get into danger, which was reassuring, and Kairi was always dependable -

"Look! A Heartless!" Kairi said, pointing at a Shadow down the end of a corridor. "I'm on it!" Kairi raced down the corridor.

"Kairi, wait!" Riku said. But it was too late - Kairi had already destroyed the Shadow and turned down another corridor. By the time he reached it, Kairi was nowhere to be seen.

Riku immediately latched onto Namine as she and Olette caught up.

"Oh!"

"No running after Kairi!"

"I, um, wasn't going to."

"Really?"

"Riku, I know Kairi can take care of herself. And I promised I'd stay with you."

"Well...good!" Riku let go. "At least somebody understands."

"I don't know," Olette said. "I still think she might run off. Maybe you should hold her hand?"

More giggling. Riku shook his head. Yeah, this was all Axel's fault - and his team was no doubt still together, facing nothing more dangerous than badly-lit corridors.

* * *

"Hi, name's Axel. Remember that; it'll be important later. And you are?"

"Sephiroth."

"Hate to interrupt your wall-gazing. You know anything about the Heartless running around here?"

"No."

"Sorry to bother you then," Xion said. She turned to Axel. "Forget the Heartless - we need to find Roxas and Hayner. What if they're in trouble?"

"They can take care of themselves. And I seriously doubt the swarm is a swarm anymore."

"You don't know that! Why aren't you more worried about this? Roxas could be fighting right now, and he -"

Sephiroth suddenly cocked his head. "What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings too?"

"...excuse me?"

"You are just a puppet... You have no heart... and cannot feel any pain... How can there be any meaning in the memory of such a being?"

Xion started to say something, then stopped. Her hands shook. For a moment, it looked like she was going to cry.

Then she spun on her heels and ran off.

Not even bothering with a response to Sephiroth's weirdly-perceptive disrespect, Axel and Pence dashed after Xion.

A few seconds later, Axel had to wait for an out-of-breath Pence to catch up. By the time they started running again, it was too late.

Xion was gone.

* * *

Riku shook his head. Did he just see Xion running alone down a corridor?

Nah. Had to be a trick of the light. Xion was far too self-disciplined to leave her team.

"Um, Riku? Do you feel that?" Namine pointed down the corridor.

"Yeah." Darkness, and lots of it. Too strong for a Darkside. Readying his keyblade, Riku led the way into a dead-end.

Inside was a tall man with long silver hair and a single wing, holding a three-meter-long sword.

"And who are you three?"

"Keyblade Master Riku." Riku didn't usually introduce himself as such, but first impressions counted when facing the darkness. And this man reeked of it.

The man looked at the sword in Riku's hand. Riku wished he had put it away - he really wasn't in the mood for a duel - but letting his guard down now was out of the question. How could he diffuse the situation without -

Namine waved. "Hi! My name's Namine. Have we met before? You look familiar."

The man said nothing.

"Have you seen another girl around here? She's a friend of ours."

The man opened his mouth, and then closed it again. After shifting his gaze between Riku and Namine for several seconds, he finally sighed. "...can you describe her?"

"She's really warm and always smiling, but I think she's kind of insecure? She gets separated from her friends a lot, and last month she -"

"What. Does. She. Look. Like?"

"Oh! Um, she looks just like me."

"Black hair?"

"Red."

"Then no. I have not seen her."

"Oh well, thanks anyway!"

"Sorry to bother you," Riku said, leading the others away.

"Wait."

Riku turned around.

The man cocked his head. "Can you do it? That darkness comes from your own dark memories. Do you think you can erase your past?"

Riku met his gaze. "If the world is made of light and darkness... We'll be the darkness."

"Indeed."

Riku walked away, with Namine and Olette on his heels. Once they were out of earshot, Olette turned to Riku. "What just happened? I thought you were going to fight that guy."

"Why?"

"Doesn't he seem suspicious?"

"He wasn't doing anything. And there weren't any Heartless around him."

"I thought he was dreamy," Namine said. "Isn't silver hair amazing?"

* * *

Kairi did her best not to scream in frustration as she wandered down yet another corridor. Why did all the walls look the same?

It was her own fault, running off like that. And right after Riku had said to stay together. What had she been thinking? She was setting a terrible example for the others. Especially Namine, who had already refused to stay put at the Mansion. Kairi didn't want to encourage that kind of behavior, at least if it led to Heartless.

Kairi was brought out of her self-recriminations by the sound of two familiar voices.

"...and we _are _stronger than Xion, but I didn't want to say that, but she figured it out anyway."

"So?"

"So now Xion's mad at me. I pushed her buttons. And I've literally never apologized to a girl before. What do you and Pence do when Olette gets mad?"

"Whatever she wants. Usually we carry her shopping bags."

Kairi ran around the corner. "Roxas! Hayner!"

"Kairi?" Roxas looked confused. "Why aren't you with your team?"

"Um...well, why aren't you with your team?"

"She makes a good argument," Hayner mock-whispered.

Roxas's sarcastic retort was halted as a figure came before them. A tall man with silver hair and a single wing, holding a three-meter-long sword.

"And who are you three?"

"Name's Hayner. You know anything about apologizing to girls?"

After several seconds, the man responded. "No. All the women I could have offended are dead."

"That's so sad!" Kairi said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Roxas and Hayner grabbed Kairi and ran off. "Sorry to bother you!"

* * *

Riku crept cautiously through the deepest part of the Underground. The area was dim, and there were plenty of shadows for Shadows to hide in. Even with his DARKNESS!-enhanced night vision, it was slow-going. Bringing Namine along as an extra set of eyes had worked out for the best. Or at least it would have, if Namine was actually keeping a lookout. But no...

Namine and Olette were looking at _him_. Whispering and giggling.

It was his hair, wasn't it? An encounter with an unruly Demon Tower had given him an impromptu trim, and it still hadn't grown back in yet.

Riku did his best to ignore the whispers as they continued walking. He couldn't make out what they were saying anyway, although he swore his ears picked up a 'How romantic!' from Olette, followed by another series of giggles. Maybe they were talking about Kairi then.

"Oh!"

Namine suddenly stopped, eyes widening, as they reached a four-way intersection. Riku followed her line of vision to the tunnel directly ahead.

Shadow Heartless. Scores of them. Not a full Demon Tide, but in the narrow corridors of the Underground, it certainly looked like one.

Riku gestured to the previous corridor. Namine nodded, taking Olette to hide near a stack of barrels as Riku stayed at the corner.

Riku considered his options. Running into the infested area, keyblade blazing, was out. He had taken on that many Heartless before, but always above ground - if the swarm decided to move, it would simply fill the corridor and trample him.

Maybe he could use the intersection to his advantage? Shadows were simple-minded - if he could get the swarm to hit an obstacle it couldn't destroy, it would split itself between the paths. Riku would have room to maneuver as he took on half of the swarm at a time.

But what to use for an obstacle? The wooden barrels Namine and Olette were hiding behind would shatter immediately. Metal was best. Riku started down the right-hand corridor. Several discarded pieces of rebar were available, but nothing substantial. Maybe he could melt them together with Fira?

Wait - barrels?

Riku raced back to the intersection, arriving just in time to see Namine pushing Olette away as two Barrel Spiders crawled towards them.

* * *

"Kairi, you're a girl, right?"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, you have experience with girl stuff. How should Roxas apologize to Xion? Actually, hold that thought." Hayner suddenly drop-kicked into a shadowed area of the corridor. "Wha-pow!"

A small burst of pink light confirmed that Hayner had just taken out a Heartless. Kairi hadn't even noticed it.

Roxas grinned. "Nice!"

"It's all in the legs."

"Well, yeah."

"Can I get my keyblade now?"

"Are you sure you need one?" Kairi said. Hayner was hardly the first person to take down Heartless without a keyblade.

Kairi had been so excited when her keyblade had appeared. But had it really made a difference? It seemed like every warrior she met - with or without a keyblade - outclassed her. She wondered what Sora would say -

_Kairi, I'm back! And there's somebody I want you to meet. This is Mira Nova. Not only is she a princess with red hair, but she's also a Space Ranger! And get this: she doesn't have a keyblade - yet - but she can walk through walls! Isn't that the coolest? We've been fighting Heartless side-by-side for weeks now. She's, like, the best partner ever! _

Roxas waved a hand in front of Kairi's face.

"Huh?"

"I said, what should I do for Xion? Her being mad at me - it's driving me crazy, but I'm afraid of making things worse."

Kairi smiled softly. "You're sweet. And so different from Sora - he would've gone with the first idea that came into his head."

Roxas stopped and turned pale. Had that been the wrong thing to say? Why was Roxas -

A brief scream suddenly echoed down the corridors.

Hayner turned to Kairi. "Did you just throw your voice?"

"That wasn't me." But it had certainly sounded like her. Why would she be hearing her own voice in another place...

Roxas snapped out of his daze. "Xion!" He took off, with Kairi and Hayner right behind him.

* * *

The Barrel Spider certainly looks imposing, especially if you're watching just as its four knife-tipped legs burst out of its barrel 'shell'. And, depending on the barrel's original contents (nearly always gunpowder, fuel, or alcohol for some reason), the resulting Spider is likely to explode if you set it on fire or hit it too hard. But it's barrel-shaped body gives it a large target profile, its weight makes it less mobile than it appears, and it rarely appears in large groups. Even the weakest Blizzard spell can take it down. All in all, it's one of the easier Heartless to deal with, so long as you _have a keyblade_.

The first Spider leaped towards Olette, fell short, and promptly shattered itself as it landed (thankfully without exploding). The second Spider managed to tackle Namine. She screamed, briefly, before slamming face-first onto the ground.

"Blizzard!"

Two Spiders down. Riku cast Blizzard at the remaining barrels in the corridor, not trusting the lack of apparent movement - he'd made _that _mistake before - then dashed back to the intersection to face the oncoming swarm...

...that never arrived. Huh. The Shadows were still at the end of the opposite corridor, happily doing whatever Shadows do in their free time. Riku wasn't sure why they hadn't been drawn to the commotion, but he wasn't going to question it.

Riku ran back to the others. Namine was still on the ground, presumably with the wind knocked out of her. Was she unconscious? That was odd. It hadn't looked like she'd hit her head that hard. Maybe Namine was - she was -

Namine was bleeding. A lot.

"Curaga!"

There was a large gash, quickly healing, down the back of Namine's left thigh where the Spider's leg had struck. A quick Scan confirmed that Curaga was doing its job, and it revealed no other injuries apart from some expected bruising.

Riku carefully turned Namine over. No concussion, but Namine was indeed unconscious. That was strange - Riku would've expected the pain to keep Namine awake, but she'd barely had a chance to scream before passing out. Some kind of replica safety feature?

"She isn't waking up."

Right, Olette was still here. Riku performed another Scan - Curaga had finished, and Namine was resting. Riku struggled to remember an explanation 'DiZ' had provided, that one time Mickey had dragged him home with a similar injury. "Namine's going to be fine. The magic's taking care of the blood loss, but her body doesn't _realize _it yet, so she's still in shock. She'll wake up in a few minutes."

Olette kneeled down, ignoring the blood as it stained her clothes, and held Namine's hand. "The nearest path back to the surface is that way," she said, pointing down the left corridor.

Wow. No fear. Riku added Olette to his mental list of people he might bequeath his keyblade to someday.

"Alright. Once Namine wakes up, I'll clear the way."

* * *

"I hope everybody else is having a better time than us," Pence said.

Axel and Pence had been wandering for what felt like forever, and with nothing to show for it. No Heartless. No Roxas or Hayner. No Xion.

"We're not giving up," Axel said. "Roxas! Xion! Where are youuuuuuuu?"

Nothing. It hadn't worked the other fifty times he'd tried either.

After a moment, Pence cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted. "Hey Axel! Look at all the ice cream I brought!"

"Wow! That sure is a lot of ice cream!"

"Yes it is! I'm not sure we can eat it all!"

"It's a shame our friends aren't here to help!"

Pence shook his head. "Axel, I think something's really wrong. Hayner should've showed up immediately."

"Wait. Did you hear a scream just now?"

After several minutes of wandering, a second scream echoed down the corridor.

"This way. Come on!"

* * *

Stupid, stupid, _stupid_. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, Riku fought to remain calm as he waited for Namine to wake up. All that effort to keep his eyes open, and he'd missed the oldest Heartless trick in the book. Why hadn't he sensed the Barrel Spiders?

He'd gotten complacent. He'd travelled alongside Mickey for so long, he'd forgotten what it was like to work with people weaker than himself. He'd walked into the Underground casually, with his Master head held high, like the whole thing was just a training exercise.

Worst of all, he'd brought two unprepared people with him. Not even fighters without keyblades, like Donald and Goofy - Namine and Olette were _civilians_. Some master he'd turned out to be. He could imagine Yen Sid revoking his mark, or even his keyblade -

_Beware the darkness in your heart._

What, his subconscious was talking like Maleficent now? That was the last think Riku needed. He almost wished for the Seeker of Darkness back.

Glancing down the corridor, Riku noticed a few Shadows looking in his direction.

_The Heartless prey upon it._

Oh. That had been a _literal _warning. With considerable effort, Riku cleared his mind. After looking around a few more seconds (in confusion? Can Shadows get confused?), the Shadows returned to the swarm.

_Don't steep yourself in darkness too long._

What, don't feel guilty? About this? How!?

The voice of Kevin Flynn echoed back:

_It's the art of the selfless, man. Remove yourself from the equation._

Right. This wasn't about him. Namine and Olette - and technically everybody in Twilight Town - were still in danger. Once Namine woke up, he'd escort her and Olette back to the Old Mansion. Then he'd return to the Underground on his own, meet up with Roxas and the others, and clear out the remaining Heartless. They'd stay overnight at the Mansion and return to Destiny Islands in the morning.

Once everybody was safe and sound, _then _he could feel guilty. And come up with a way to apologize to Namine. Maybe buy her a new dress? No amount of water magic was going to get the blood out of her old one. Kairi could help pick it out.

Riku smiled to himself. His heart still hurt, but he had a plan. Everything was going to be okay. He would make everything okay, even if it was his last act as a master.

Namine screamed.

Riku looked down. Namine was...still lying unconscious on the ground?

Olette was still holding Namine's hand, but she was staring down the other end of the corridor. Following Olette's line of vision, Riku saw Kairi, Hayner, and Roxas. Kairi was frozen on the spot. Well, that explained the scream.

Roxas and Hayner were running towards Namine. When they reached her, Hayner stopped, but Roxas kept running - towards Riku, with his keyblade in his hand and rage in his eyes. In the back of Riku's head, Xenahort's Heartless spoke up with a helpful explanation:

_The next time you lead your friend into DARKNESS!, you might not want to leave her lying motionless in a pool of her own blood. Others _might _just think you let her _die_._

Riku didn't respond. He was too busy dodging Oathkeeper as it tried to take his head off.

* * *

Turning a corridor, Axel finally reached...something.

Kairi, Hayner, and Olette were helping a dazed Namine sit upright. Was that blood?

A little further down, Roxas was yelling and swinging his keyblade wildly at Riku.

...had Riku tried to murder Namine!?

Axel dashed towards the fight, ready to support his little buddy against the...onslaught? Riku wasn't actually fighting back.

...had Roxas tried to murder Namine!?

Roxas was still yelling. It was mostly incoherent. "...she trusted you, and...Xion didn't deserve...how could you..."

Axel hesitated - after the Coliseum fiasco the day before, he wasn't feeling too confident about his own judgment. If he stopped the wrong person, and the other one attacked Namine and the others...Maybe he could knock them both out? If he could get Roxas to stop, for just a moment, then he could -

_\- watch the sky above your head suddenly illuminate with a thousand points of light. The points coalesce into an extravagant magic circle, which mutates several times before shooting a column of light to the ground. _

_From the light emerges a kneeling figure. Tall, silver hair, wearing a black coat. He has his back towards you, showing off a single black-and-blue feathered wing._

_The man slowly stands, then extends both his wing and his right arm. He performs a half-turn, regarding you out of the corner of his eye, before he faces you fully. His face bears a small grin conveying several sentiments, all of them insulting._

_The man suddenly draws a sword nearly three meters long. The battle is joined._

_"Out of my way."_

_The man fights with cool disinterest - swinging his sword in wide arcs, summoning flames with the flick of a wrist, dashing across the field with effortless grace._

_"I am the chosen one!"_

_The skies open again. Meteors bearing the fires of Hell rain down, stopping just before they strike the ground. They circle your opponent, briefly. Then they move towards you -_

Axel collapsed. Riku collapsed. Roxas collapsed.

Axel shook his head. An illusion? Axel looked down the corridor. Namine was sitting upright, breathing hard. She promptly tipped over.

* * *

Hayner led the shaken group out of the Underground. Riku carried Namine on his back. Axel carried Roxas - unconscious, thankfully - on his back. Kairi and the others quietly trailed behind.

Roxas's sudden outburst, and the shock and confusion from Namine's vision, did not go unnoticed. The Heartless swarm was finally roused, confronting the group shortly after the vision had ended. It had then fallen before the combined fury of three very unhappy keyblade warriors. The 'battle' was over before Riku could even think about it.

Riku didn't want to think anymore. Not about what had happened to Namine, or what had happened with Roxas. And certainly not what he'd just seen of the one-winged man.

It wasn't until two hours later, as they were eating a late meal back in the Mansion while watching over the still-prone forms of Namine and Roxas, that Riku decided to count heads.

"Uh, guys? Aren't we missing somebody?"

* * *

After yelling at his friends to _not leave the Mansion under any circumstances_, Riku ran back into the Underground.

Xion was still down there. And so was a man who could summon meteors.

Riku dashed frantically through the corridors until he spied a mop of black hair. "Xion!"

"Master?" Xion looked unharmed but perfectly miserable. A few black feathers littered the ground.

"We have to go. There's a man down here, with one wing -"

"I know. He's gone now."

"He's gone? What happened?"

"I got separated from my team. I heard screaming, and I tried to follow, but I just got more lost. Ran into Sephiroth instead, and he _wouldn't leave me alone_." Xion sniffled. "He kept calling me a puppet, and he made fun of my name. Said the light didn't suit me. So I hit him with my keyblade until he went away."

"...you did what?"

"We fought. He already had his sword out, so I chose to interpret that as a challenge. His magic was weird. He kept throwing rocks."

"You defeated him!?"

"I guess so? We fought for, I don't know, five minutes? Then he stopped, said I had some skill, and that he was going to go watch clouds. Or something. I wasn't listening. Then he walked away."

Xion looked at Riku with pain in her face. "I was really tired after the fight, and I didn't want to walk around lost anymore. So I decided to sit here and wait for somebody to find me. But nobody did, until now. Did - did everybody forget about me?"

"What?"

"Roxas isn't looking for me. You're the only one who noticed I was gone. Isn't that right?"

"Xion, Roxas isn't looking for you because he had a nervous breakdown and tried to murder me, and Namine had to stop him with her mind powers, so he's asleep. That's all."

"Really?"

"Everybody's worried sick about you."

"If you say so."

"Come on. Pence's making dinner. Or lunch. Whatever. Stupid twilight." Riku offered his hand. After a moment, Xion accepted it wordlessly.

They were halfway back to the Mansion when Xion finally spoke again.

"Wait. Roxas did WHAT?"


	7. Illuminating Twilight

Kairi's breath caught in her throat at the sound of a knock on the Old Mansion front door.

Riku had left an hour ago, on his own, to find Xion. No guides or backup. Insisted they lock the door behind him. If that guy with one wing suddenly appeared and started calling down fire from the sky, they were to get as far away as possible and contact King Mickey or Aqua for help. Without looking back. At the time, Kairi hadn't been able to argue - she'd seen Namine's vision just like everybody else, and she knew just what the one-winged man was capable of. So she'd helped Pence bake cookies while trying not to think about losing Riku and Xion. Or about Roxas and Namine, still unconscious in the guest room. Or Sora.

Nearly knocking Pence over, Kairi ran to the front door. Axel, already in the hallway, grabbed Olette's arm before she could follow. "Wait. What if it's Sephiroth?"

"I don't think a guy like him would bother to knock?"

Hayner was already unlocking the door and flinging it open. In walked Riku and Xion, looking exhausted but otherwise unharmed. Kairi, envious of Axel's long arms for the first time in her life, did her best to wrap both of them in a hug. "You're back! I was worried sick! You must be -"

Xion pulled Kairi's arm off of her. "Where is Roxas?"

"He's still asleep. You must be starving. We have plenty of leftover -"

"Where is Roxas?"

Axel grabbed Xion in a hug of his own. Or at least tried to. Xion shoved him away.

"Where. Is. Roxas?"

Olette chimed in. "In the guest room on the upper floor. He's okay, but he's still -"

Xion stormed past everybody, jogging up the stairs and out of sight.

Kairi tried to read Riku's blank expression. "What did you tell her?"

"Everything." Riku turned to Hayner. "You and your friends need to go home."

"What? No way!" Hayner said. "I'm not afraid of some loser with a weird sword -"

"This isn't about Sephiroth. Xion fought and drove him off earlier -"

Axel's eyes bugged out. "She did what!?"

"- and she and I got lost on our way out of the Underground. I'm pretty sure we walked the whole place again, and we didn't see Sephiroth anywhere. He's gone. He's not the problem."

Olette frowned. "You don't want us to be here when Roxas wakes up."

"We don't know what state of mind he's going to be in. He's dangerous right now -"

Hayner got in Riku's face. "Roxas is our _friend _-"

"- and if he wakes up confused and hurts you guys, he's going to hate himself for the rest of his life. Trust me; I have experience in this."

After several seconds, Hayner backed down. "Okay. For his sake. But we're coming back first thing tomorrow morning."

* * *

Once Hayner, Olette, and Pence were on their way home, Axel and Riku retired to the dining room. Kairi grabbed a mug of coffee and a plate of cookies before joining them.

"So."

"So."

"Roxas."

"Yeah, Roxas."

"Mm hmm."

"Hmm."

Apparently Kairi hadn't missed much. She set the plate of cookies in the center of the table. "Do you think Roxas's, um, disorientation is a replica problem? Like, his eyes aren't working right, so he thought you were somebody else? We could contact Ansem over the computer -"

Riku shook his head. "Ansem already gave Roxas a clean bill of health, remember? This is something else."

"I...have an idea about that," Axel said. "While Roxas was attacking you, I heard him yell something about Xion?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah. Xion 'didn't deserve what I did to her'."

"But Namine was the one lying on the ground. Roxas didn't have any reason to think you hurt Xion; she was lost in the Underground at the time."

Riku shrugged. "So he misspoke. Roxas wasn't exactly thinking straight. And Namine and Xion are identical, apart from the hair."

"That's my point." Axel looked uncomfortable. "Roxas, Xion, and me have a lot of history together. Not all of it good, especially near the end of our Organization days - we've all fought each other at least twice. Roxas and Xion got the worst of it. The last time they fought, Xion, uh, -"

"- pretended to go crazy and forced Roxas to kill her, so Roxas would survive and Sora would get his memories back," Riku said, staring at the table.

"Right...wait, you know about that?"

"Xion and I have history too." It was Riku's turn to look uncomfortable. "I had a hand in her decision back then. I didn't remember it until recently because of the whole everybody-forgets-Xion thing. She filled in the blanks for me last week. Told me it wasn't my fault."

Several expressions went across Axel's face - surprise, anger, sympathy - before he settled on resigned. "Just blame everything on Xemnas. That's what I do. Anyway, remember my little freak-out yesterday, at the Coliseum? The stuff I yelled at Xion - it wasn't random. It was things I'd yelled at her before, back when she'd tried to escape the Organization and I'd hunted her down."

"Meaning what, exactly?"

"Ever since I became a Somebody again, I've been getting flashes of my old life as a Nobody."

"What!?" Kairi said. "But you've been a Somebody for - Why didn't you tell me? All that time we trained together - I could've helped you!"

"It took everything I had just to act _normal _around you. Teaming up a kidnapper and his victim? It wasn't easy for either of us. I still think Yen Sid did that on purpose."

"Is that why you apologized so much? You kept remembering."

"The point is, I think Roxas is having the same problem."

Kairi made a mental note to give Axel the biggest hug of his life later. "Okay, so Roxas turns a corner, sees Xion-with-blond-hair lying on the ground, and he flashes back to their fight and Xion's death. And then he attacks Riku because he confuses him with...Roxas?" Kairi scratched her head. "Roxas was trying to attack himself?"

"Is that really so weird? We've fought thirteen different versions of the same guy before. Attacking yourself is kind of mundane in comparison."

"And I understand the feeling," Riku said. "If I ran into my younger self, hanging out with Maleficent? I'd smack him with a keyblade too."

Axel nodded. "I know I'd like to have a few words with a certain Nobody...say, didn't Xehanort figure out time travel?"

"I already asked Yen Sid. You have to give up your physical body. It's a one-way trip."

"But if I -"

"Sent back your own Heartless? You don't have nearly enough darkness for that."

"Then how about -"

"Replica bodies? Even would never agree to it."

"Hmph. Fine."

"Anyways, I don't think it's just circumstances that triggered this," Riku said. "For some reason, Roxas has been obsessive about keyblade practice. Keeps wearing himself out. That can't be good for his hold on reality. I should've made him take a break."

"You tried to." Kairi kept an iron grip on her coffee mug. It was the only way to keep her hands from shaking. "You wanted to take everybody back to Destiny Islands, and then deal with the Underground yourself. But I talked you out of it. If I hadn't, Roxas -"

"- would have freaked out some other time," Axel said. "We're keyblade warriors - we're gonna get hurt eventually. Remember Roxas's panic when he hit Xion with ice cream, back in Disney Town? I think all this was inevitable."

"Really, it's good that we're uncovering this now," Riku said. "What if Roxas had his breakdown during a fight with Maleficent? Or another Xehanort? We'd all be in danger. Kairi, you were right that Roxas was having problems adjusting to normal life. You did the right thing..."

Kairi wasn't so sure. She wondered what Sora would say -

_Kairi, I'm back! I'd like you to meet Elsa. She's one of the new Princesses of Heart. Except she's actually a queen. And she's got this awesome ice magic. It went out of control once, and she had to leave her kingdom. Isn't she amazing, giving up everything to keep her friends out of danger? I've never met anybody like her. Great singing voice too. I might be falling in love!_

\- or if she'd even be able to face him again.

Riku was still talking. "...or at least the main swarm, so Twilight Town should be safe now. And we're all still alive - I know that sounds cliché, but we _have _all died before - so I'm counting today as a win. And if Roxas is the only one having problems, then -"

Namine walked into the dining room, still wearing her blood-stained dress. "Good afternoon! Or is it evening? Twilight is so confusing."

Riku nearly leaped out of his chair. "Namine! You're awake!"

"Yup! Roxas is still asleep, by the way. Xion's with him. I guess she's worried. She didn't say anything to me." Namine sat down, setting a plate of food on the table. "I helped myself to leftovers. I hope you don't mind."

"Are - are you okay?" Riku said.

"Mmph! Mmf mm mmphmm -"

"Namine, don't talk with your mouth full," Kairi said.

Namine swallowed. "Yup! Just hungry. We did a lot of walking today, didn't we? And I think that mental projection wore me out. I feel bad about that, by the way. I didn't mean to show Sephiroth. It's just, when we ran into him in the Underground, I _knew _I had seen him before. Kept trying to remember where. And when I wanted to stop Roxas from fighting, I thought I'd use a projection of the Coliseum, since we went there yesterday. Then I finally remembered - Sephiroth was in Sora's memories! Sora and Sephiroth had fought each other in the Coliseum. That's how I knew him. And, like, once you start thinking of something, it's hard to stop, you know? So I ended up projecting the fight to everybody. I'll have to practice so that doesn't happen next time."

Namine took a look at herself. "I need to buy a new dress too. Maybe a red one, so the blood doesn't show up? I like white, but when it gets stained, it's impossible to -"

" 'Next time?' "

Everybody turned to Riku.

"What do you mean, 'next time'?"

"The next time we go on a mission like this. I want to help more."

"You will help by not helping," Riku said. "I'm glad you're awake. I want to apologize, for taking you into the Underground -"

"You didn't. I followed you. It was my idea."

"Well, yeah, but I shouldn't have gone along with it. I made the wrong decision, and it -"

"...you're apologizing for listening to me?"

"The point is, it won't happen again. You're not going on another mission with us."

"But - but - Riku, I'm fine! You were with me the entire time. And I got hurt, but it wasn't that bad -"

"You could've lost your leg."

"It was just a cut! You didn't have any trouble healing me."

"Because the Barrel Spider hit your _leg_. What if it had hit your head or chest instead? Magic can't fix everything." Riku shook his head. "We're not doing this again."

"But I have to go on missions! My keyblade won't show up if I just sit at home, right?"

Riku was silent for several seconds. When he spoke again, his voice was low. "Namine...tell me that you haven't been deliberately putting yourself in danger on the off chance you'd _get a keyblade_!"

"So what if I was? None of you can tell me how to find it, so I'm doing it myself!"

"Of all the - "

"You can't order me around. I'm not your student, remember?"

"Namine, I'm taking you back to Destiny Islands, and you're staying there!"

"NO!" Namine stood up. "No! Nobody is locking me in a castle ever again!"

Namine ran from the table. Kairi could hear her stomp up the stairs.

Then silence.

"Sooo...Sephiroth," Axel said. "What is he exactly? One of those talking Heartless? I know he's not a Nobody; Xemnas would've been thrilled to have -"

"No!" Riku snapped. "He isn't a Heartless, or a Nobody, or an 'Unversed', or a - a - sometimes a person is just a monster." Riku left the table. A few seconds later, the front door slammed shut.

Kairi managed to hold back a scream. Mostly. It came out as something like a whimper. She put down her coffee mug; it wasn't helping steady her anymore.

Axel opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"I don't know what to do," Kairi said softly.

After a moment, Axel straightened up and gave Kairi a grin. "Whatever we can do. You may not feel like it right now, but you're still a Princess of Heart. I bet Namine needs somebody to talk to." He stood up. "And I'm still Axel. We beat most of the Heartless in the Underground, but there might still be stragglers, right? Good. I need to burn things. When Roxas wakes up, you can tell him where to find me."

* * *

Axel was right - focus on what you can do. Namine was taking a shower in the bathroom adjoining the master bedroom. Kairi grabbed a spare blood-free dress from the Gummi Bus, then sat on the bed and waited.

When Namine came out, Kairi gave a shaky grin and held up the clothes. "You probably don't want to walk around the Mansion in a bathrobe. You still hate pants, right? This dress isn't your usual color, but..."

"Thanks." As Namine moved to take the dress, Kairi suddenly hugged her. "Oh!"

"I'm so sorry! Riku told us to stay together, and I ran off anyway. I could have protected you!"

After a moment, Namine managed to loosen Kairi's grip enough that she could talk. "Kairi, I'm okay! It was just a cut."

"You were unconscious on the ground, covered in blood! That's not okay! We were all horrified."

"Well, maybe, but shouldn't we be more worried about Roxas? Do we even know what happened to him?"

"Roxas flipped out when he saw you were hurt. Axel thinks he -"

Namine's eyes widened. "Roxas attacked Riku because of me?"

"That's not what I -"

Namine pulled out of the hug. "I - I had no idea. No wonder Riku's so upset! I almost got him killed!"

"No! Don't think that!" Kairi started smothering Namine again.

Suddenly Xion walked into the room. "Can you two keep it down? Roxas is still asleep, and I really don't want him to -"

"Xion, look out!" Namine said. But it was too late; Kairi released Namine and latched onto Xion.

"Aah!"

"And you! I'm so sorry you were lost in the Underground all that time!"

"Ngrfh...Kairi...can't breathe..."

"Everything happened at once, and I was just so - so - you mean the world to me, I need you to understand that - I can't believe I didn't -"

"Um, Kairi? Xion's turning blue."

"- I wanted to go after you, but Riku said no - I should've insisted - baking those cookies was the hardest thing I've ever done -"

"Kairi!" Namine pulled on Kairi's arm. "You need to stop before you break something. Don't make me use my Sephiroth vision again."

Kairi finally let go. After a moment to catch her breath, Xion spoke quietly. "You...were really worried about me?"

Kairi nodded, unsure if she could say anything else without bursting into tears.

Namine grabbed Kairi's shoulders and carefully pushed her into sitting on the bed. "Kairi, listen to me. I know we had a really bad day, and you're blaming yourself - for some reason - but we're fine. Xion and me. We're still here. And Roxas is -" Namine turned to Xion. "- you said he's still asleep?"

"Yes. Also, I tied him up. Found some rope on the Gummi Bus." Xion turned to Kairi. "That's what you would do, right?"

"...why?"

"So Roxas doesn't hurt anybody - or himself - when he -"

"No. Why would you ask that? What I would do?"

Xion blinked. "Because...because you're Kairi. You're my role model -"

"I'm the LAST person you should be copying! Unless you want to put your friends in danger, or get kidnapped over and over, or - or make your friends watch as Xehanort murders you, so he can create the x-blade and _doom the universe_! And then the person you care about most - the one who _saved _the universe - gives up everything to rescue you! Again!"

After several seconds of silence - apart from Kairi's quiet sobbing - Xion sat down next to Kairi. "Kairi, do you know why Roxas exists? He was born when Sora released his own heart to save you. Sora didn't even hesitate. He knew you were worth saving."

"Well, maybe he was wrong."

Xion suddenly looked angry. "You don't get to -"

"Why do you even need a role model? You're so much stronger than me."

"Don't say that!"

"I should be learning from you, not the other way around. Why can't you just be Xion?"

"I don't know how!"

In the back of her mind, Kairi realized this was the first time she had ever heard Xion raise her voice.

Xion stood up. "You don't get it!" She pointed at Kairi. "You're Kairi." She pointed at Namine. "You were Kairi's Nobody." She started to pace. "Everybody started out as either a Somebody or a Nobody. Except me. I was just one of Even's stupid lab experiments. Xemnas explained it to me once - I wasn't even supposed to have a personality!"

Xion faced Kairi. "I never had a Somebody. I was born from Sora's random memories - I look like you by _accident_. But it's all I have. You have to be my role model. And I've been trying my hardest to be like you - wearing your clothes, teaming up with you, copying your fighting style. Nothing works. It doesn't matter if I have a heart now, or a body, or whatever. I'm still a sham. One day Roxas is going to wake up and realize that. You all will. And then I'll be forgotten again. I don't really -"

"I don't really exist in your heart. I don't exist in anyone's heart. I never have existed anywhere." Namine gave a wan smile. "That's what you're thinking, right?"

The room started to blur. Kairi jumped up. "Namine, what are you doing?"

"I need to show you something." The room continued to -

_\- shake, like the Islands are falling apart. Not the real Destiny Islands, of course; you're still in Castle Oblivion. You're currently walking through an illusion constructed from your childhood memories, somehow condensed into a trading card. But that Darkside you just fought felt real enough. And so is the person right in front of you._

_It's _her_. Namine. The girl in your heart. You found her. You've been through so much - fighting enemies, pushing away friends, losing your _mind _\- but none of that matters now. You and Namine are together again. You kept your promise._

_"Oh, Sora, forgive me...I'm not supposed to be in this picture."_

_What?_

_"Was it really me you came for?"_

_Of course it was! You may have forgotten things in this castle, but not Namine!_

_"Think, Sora. Think of the person who's most special to you."_

_Namine isn't making any sense. Maybe Castle Oblivion is affecting her memories as well? There's no question of who's most special to you. It's - it's - Nami - _

_"The girl you care about...the one who was always with you..."_

_\- Nami - Kai - _

_"It's not me. It's her."_

_\- Kai - Kairknknkdskl;fkjd;lfdkjfd;lkjfdsklfd..._

_...the blond woman in the black coat casually tosses Riku - a fake Riku? - against a wall. She then walks over to Namine and touches her cheek._

_"Oh, so cute...but behind this little face, you do _awful _things."_

_She turns towards you, smiling like a shark._

_"Don't you get it now? The girl you've been trying to protect all this time is really a manipulative witch who shackles people's hearts! Messing with people's memories is about all she's good at. Lies, lies, all lies!"_

_The woman summons knives and advances towards you. Namine grabs her arm._

_"Excuse me? It's a little late to grow a conscience, _witch_. Last I checked, you're the one who got him into this mess!"_

_The woman swats Namine aside, sending her to the ground. You ready your keyblade. It takes everything you have to keep from recklessly charging and trying to strike down the woman then and there._

_"What's this? Are you upset? You don't even know her!"_

_You made a promise to Namine._

_"You are such an idiot! There is no promise! There never was!"_

_Maybe not. Maybe your memories are fake. But they're _yours_, and you're going to be true to them._

Kairi wobbled slightly as the vision ended, revealing the master bedroom and Xion. And Namine, not injured - it had been the vision's younger Namine that Larxene had attacked. Which somehow didn't make Kairi feel any better.

Namine's face was red. "I _really _didn't want to show that to anyone, but I didn't know how else to explain this. When I was in Castle Oblivion, I did awful things. Sora saved me anyway." She looked at Xion. "It didn't matter where I came from, what I was, or what I wasn't." She looked at Kairi. "Or what I had done to him. Sora still cared about me. I've only been a Somebody for less than a month, so I'm no expert, but I think that's how hearts work? You don't have to be perfect for people to love you."

Kairi took a deep breath. She'd always remember what had happened in the Keyblade Graveyard. What Sora had to do to get her back. Part of her would never forgive herself.

But watching Sora save somebody, from his perspective? Kairi finally _understood_.

"Thanks, Namine."

"Did it make sense?"

Kairi nodded. Xion nodded too. Neither were smiling, but the tension was gone.

"Good. Because I'm not reliving that memory ever again." Namine frowned. "You guys said Larxene faded away at the Keyblade Graveyard. That was permanent, right?"

That got Xion to smile. "I should go check on Roxas. Maybe wake him up. He's been sleeping for hours, right?"

Kairi nodded. "He also missed lunch - or was it dinner? Twilight is weird. Anyway, there are leftovers in the fridge. You should eat something too."

"Okay. We can eat after we talk. I'm going to comfort him. Or yell at him. I haven't decided yet. Maybe I can do both at the same time?"

"Xion, you've already watched over Roxas," Kairi said quickly. "How about I take a turn, while you find Riku? He wandered off outside somewhere."

"I can help you look," Namine said. "I need to tell Riku a few things."

"Well, alright."

As Kairi walked to the guest room, a plan for Roxas already forming in her mind, she could still hear Xion and Namine talking.

"You should get dressed first. That bathrobe doesn't look very warm."

"I was going to -"

"Unless you want to show Master Riku that your leg is fully healed? He's probably thinking about your legs right now. A bathrobe would be practical."

"Xion!"

"Although you always wear skirts, so maybe it doesn't matter..."


	8. Sunrise

Riku fell. And fell, and fell, until he landed onto a massive stained-glass window.

Xehanort's Heartless, the Seeker of Darkness, was there to greet him.

"You have failed. Your strength - exhausted! Your fellowship - broken! Your mark of mastery - worthless! And where is your savior, the keyblade's chosen one? He _abandoned _you. All that remains is DARKNESS!"

Xehanort's Guardian appeared, snarling and twitching.

"You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."

The Seeker rose into the air.

"I am inevitable. DARKNESS is inevitable. Submit!"

Riku rolled his eyes. "This is a dream, isn't it?"

"...no."

"Yes it is."

"You don't know that."

Riku counted on his fingers. "One: I watched you die less than a month ago. Two: I know your Guardian was freed and became Terra again -"

The Guardian gave a cheerful wave.

"- yeah, hi. Three, and I can't emphasize this enough: we're standing on a stained-glass window depicting Kairi breaking Axel's nose."

The Seeker lowered back down to the ground. "It's - it's symbolic -"

"Yeah, that my subconscious has a bizarre sense of humor." Riku shook his head. What he wouldn't give for a Dream Eater right now. "I'm really not in the mood for this."

A deep voice from behind Riku echoed into the void. "Why? Did Namine break your heart? Let rage consume you! Or just give up your heart entirely; it did wonders for me."

Xehanort's Heartless pouted. "I'm standing right here, you know."

Riku didn't even need to turn around to identify the newcomer. He did so anyway; keeping his back turned to the guy was a Bad Idea. "Xemnas. Are you here to throw a building at me?"

"I would, if there were any. Cursed dreamscape. Regardless, if Namine has turned against you, perhaps you could make use of Xion instead? It isn't like she's good for anything else."

"He has a point." A third voice. Vexen. "You should be honored. My creation is a work of genius. And you did rescue her from the Underground. That was romantic, yes?"

"It - it really wasn't," Riku stuttered. How had they gotten on this subject?

"Fools!" Maleficent. "That puppet is not good enough for my little boy!" She turned to Riku. "Did you forget your goal, to pursue the Princess of Heart?"

"Which princess?" Old Xehanort. "Red hair, pink clothes, easy to kidnap? I believe I killed that one. What about that blue-haired girl Eraqus was training? Her name was Ocean, I think."

"I must have missed something." DiZ. "Did Namine and Riku have a falling out?"

Vexen nodded. "Our little keyblade master was just trying to keep that ungrateful brat safe, and she snapped at him! 'Locking me in a castle' indeed! Practically compared him to Marluxia."

Seeing the blank stares from the others, Xemnas chimed in. "Marluxia was, uh, one of mine. Long pink hair. Loved flowers. A bit on the treacherous side...not ringing any bells? Really?" Xemnas shrugged. "Well, I thought he was distinctive. If he was still alive, he'd be very disappointed. Regardless: there's nothing wrong with locking Namine away. I used to do it all the time."

"That little witch has no keyblade," Maleficent said. "She was never chosen. Really, keeping her out of sight is a mercy."

"Riku, you blame yourself? You are not thinking clearly," DiZ said. "Perhaps you are unwell. I should examine you."

"The future belongs to the strong," Old Xehanort said. "You are a Keyblade Master. You have the power. You have the responsibility."

"It's not like you could have taught her anything," the Seeker of Darkness said. "What were you going to do, give her a wooden sword to play with?"

Riku blinked. "...what did you just say?"

"What, wooden sword? I was thinking of that time we tossed Sora a toy sword after stealing his keyblade. It was hilarious."

Riku wasn't listening. "Could I have taught her...I just assumed..."

The others became very quiet.

"Ignoring Namine...I haven't been acting like a Master, have I?"

The others grumbled. Xemnas dope-slapped the Seeker of Darkness.

Riku turned to Old Xehanort. "You're right. I have the responsibility. And I'm going to make this right." Riku smirked. "Thanks, guys."

One by one, the others vanished. The Seeker was last to go. For a moment, Riku swore he saw a grin on his face.

And then Riku was alone in his dream.

Well, not quite. DiZ was still there, poking him with a stick.

"Master Riku. Time to wake up. Master."

The stained-glass window broke. Riku fell...

* * *

Riku opened his eyes to a forest bathed in twilight, and to Xion poking him with a stick.

"- to wake up, Master. There we go!" Xion grinned triumphantly.

A very nervous Namine was there too. "Did you, um, have a nice nap?"

That's right. Riku had stormed out of the Mansion to take a walk in the surrounding forest, then remembered he was still exhausted from walking the Underground twice. He'd settled down where he thought nobody would find him for a while. Not far enough, clearly.

Riku grimaced as guilt from the past several hours flooded back into his mind. Even after that inspirational dream with a bunch of psychopaths, he wasn't ready to have a conversation with Namine yet.

Xion's face fell. "Was I not supposed to wake you? Were you having a good dream?"

"No. No I wasn't." Riku stood up and dusted himself off. "Did something happen?"

"Everything's fine," Xion said. "I mean, no, everything's still horrible. But it hasn't gotten any worse."

"Roxas is still asleep," Namine said. "Kairi's with him. She sent us to find you."

"She sent me. Namine volunteered."

"I, um, wanted to talk..."

"But you were asleep. Namine was like, 'Maybe we should just let him sleep, he's always working so hard' and 'He looks so peaceful!', but I got bored."

"I didn't - we weren't watching you sleep or anything!"

"So I found a stick. Waking you up took a while. You must've been really tired. We did walk all over the Underground. Thanks for finding me, by the way! I would have been lost down there forever."

"I need to thank you too. For saving me from that Barrel Spider. I don't know why I didn't thank you earlier -"

"She realized it while we were looking for you, and she got really upset. 'I can't believe I yelled at him like that! And after I put him in danger! He must hate me!' You don't hate Namine, right, Master?"

"Um, you don't have to answer that! I just wanted to talk -"

" 'Just wanted to talk'? Namine, you were almost crying!"

"- about what I said earlier. About missions. I do need you to communicate with me better, instead of just sending me away. Even if you have a good reason. But don't think I don't appreciate you looking out for me -"

"Me too!"

"- really, it means a lot, and I wasn't angry, I was just frustrated -"

"Ooh, maybe that was Roxas's problem! I'll ask him when he wakes up."

"- and I especially don't want you to blame yourself for everything that happened in the Underground -"

"You're a good Master!"

"- your friendship, it...it means the world to me, and I -"

"We love you, Master!"

Namine's face went whiter than her original dress. "Um, Xion! That doesn't mean what you think it means!"

"We do, Master!"

...right, Xion didn't know anything about romance. Riku patted Xion on the head. "Thanks. You're sweet."

Xion beamed. Then she bowed. "Master Riku, please forgive Roxas for his multiple attempts to decapitate you! I'm certain he won't try again. Mostly because I tied him up."

Good to see Xion's sense of humor was back...wait, was she serious? "You, uh, do realize that Roxas could just summon his keyblade and cut himself free, right?"

Xion froze for several seconds. Then she grabbed Namine by the shoulders, thrust her towards Riku, and ran back towards the Mansion as fast as her little replica legs could carry her.

Staring at Namine, who had just become a lot less talkative, Riku suddenly wished Roxas _would _show up. That was a situation he knew how to handle.

* * *

Axel had barely spent a half-hour burning Shadow Globs in the Underground when a voice called out from the corridor behind him. "Hi, Axel! Having fun?"

Wow. Kairi had cheered up fast. Axel turned around. "Meh. Maybe if the bigger threats stopped -"

Standing in the corridor was a smiling Kairi.

And a not-smiling Roxas.

"- hiding." Oh. Huh. Sure, he'd told Kairi to send Roxas -

_Number 13. Roxas. The Keyblade's _chosen _one._

\- his way when he woke up. And he'd meant it. He just hadn't expected Kairi or Riku to _allow _it. Not without wrapping Roxas in heavy chains or something.

Axel's surprise must have shown on his face, as Roxas lowered his eyes immediately.

_Something I can _help _you with there, chatterbox?_

Kairi was unperturbed. "I brought cookies! And coffee. And Roxas. They should all help with your Heartless-hunting." She walked over and handed Axel a bag and a thermos. Roxas stayed in place.

"You want Roxas to fight?" Axel whispered. "I was just going to hang out with him after I finished down here. Didn't Riku say Roxas needed a break?"

"I'm sure he's fine. He slept for hours."

"That's...not what I meant," Axel said. "On a scale of one to Larxene, how stab-happy is he right now?"

_Rise and _shine_, sleepyhead!_

This was _not _the time for old Nobody Axel to chime in.

"Roxas isn't dangerous," Kairi said. "Quite the opposite. I tried to explain everything that happened, but I don't know if he understood. I can't even get him to talk. That's why I brought him here."

_Oh boy...What, are you making _me _the kid's mentor now?_

"You want _me _to get Roxas to open up?"

"Xion and Namine are busy. I sent them to find Riku." Kairi smiled. "Besides, you're still Axel. You two have a lot of history, right? I'm sure you can bring out the best in each other."

"Did you forget how badly I screwed up at the Coliseum? I'm the _last _person you should be trusting with -"

"If you have a dream, don't wait. Act! One of life's little rules." Kairi gave Axel a wink, then walked off, ruffling Roxas's hair as she passed by. "You two play nice!"

Well. That was just _weird_.

Roxas was still standing in the corridor. Axel pulled out a cookie from the bag and held it out. After several seconds, Roxas walked over and accepted it. Axel had an urge to say 'Good boy!' and scratch Roxas behind his ears, but he restrained himself.

_Well, you heard the man. Starting today, I'm your babysitter._

"So. How ya doin'?"

Silence. Roxas ate his cookie.

"Kairi told you what happened?"

Silence. Axel pulled out a cookie for himself.

"Did Kairi put sea-salt in these?"

The silence was broken by a chittering noise at the end of the corridor. Shadows. A half-dozen of them. Looking straight at Roxas.

Is that what Kairi had brought Roxas? So Axel could use whatever darkness he was going through, as some kind of Heartless-magnet? That didn't sound like her.

_Sheesh, don't talk my ear off...You ready or what?_

Not looking at Axel, Roxas summoned his keyblade and raised it mechanically.

The battle lasted less than a minute. The silence lasted longer. Roxas was fighting on autopilot.

"So, uh, you're probably wondering why I volunteered to go back down here."

More Shadows arrived.

_You are such a _zombie_. Want me to go have all the fun while you figure it out? C'mon._

"I figured, we haven't found all the old gang yet. You gotta beat both the Heartless and the Nobody for the Somebody to return, right? So maybe one of these little guys is someone we know. Like that one – see the antennae? Kinda looks like Larxene's hair."

The Shadows burned. Then silence again.

"Not that I want to see Larxene again."

Still nothing.

"Or Marluxia. Luxord was alright. I still owe him munny from that last poker game. Hm. Maybe this was a bad idea?"

More chittering noises. All around them.

This wasn't working. 'Bring out the best in each other?' What was Kairi thinking? Did she really think he could -

_Why do I always get stuck with the _icky _jobs?_

Wait.

'If you have a dream, don't wait' - he'd said that, as a Nobody, to Kairi when he had kidnapped her. And he and Roxas have 'a lot of history together'? 'You're still Axel'?

"Kairi, you sly fox..."

Did he just say that out loud? Roxas was looking at him.

Well, whatever. If this didn't work, Riku would have two crazy people to deal with. But if it did...

Axel took a deep breath, downed the entire thermos of coffee in one gulp, and tapped into his inner Axel.

* * *

Kairi had just entered the main hallway, carrying a fresh mug of coffee and a book, when a black-haired blur shot through the front door and up the stairs.

Kairi sighed and closed the front door. Had Xion been raised in a barn? An open door was an open invitation for insects. Or Heartless. Or insect Heartless.

The black-haired blur zipped back down the stairs and throughout the house before stopping in front of Kairi.

"Kairi! Kairi! Kairi!"

"What what what?"

"Roxas is GONE! I tied him up but he must've cut himself free and now he isn't there anymore and I just searched the whole house and he isn't ANYWHERE and -"

"Xion, hey! Xion! Slow down! Yes, Roxas is gone."

"Why is Roxas gone!?"

"I untied him. He's in the Underground with Axel right now."

"...but why is Roxas gone?"

"Xion, Roxas needs help. And he can't get that if he's tied to a bed. Now, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. I'm about to settle down in the living room with a good book and wait until my friends return. You are welcome to join me. Would you like some coffee? It's decaf."

Xion zipped through the front door. Kairi closed it behind her.

Good. Kairi had just told Xion what she was going to do, and Xion had done the exact opposite, instead of following Kairi around like a puppy. It didn't prove that Xion had taken Namine's lesson to heart, but it was a good sign.

All that was left was for Axel and Roxas to have their heart-to-heart. Which they were no doubt doing now, as they ate cookies while idly walking through the Underground and exterminating the handful of Heartless that were left.

* * *

_Here we go, Roxas! Keep your head out of the clouds!_

"Here we go, Roxas! Keep your head out of the clouds!" Axel switched his keyblade to its chakram form, just in time for a fourth squad of Soldier Heartless to show up. "Hey Soldiers! Your momma dresses you funny! You forgot the rest of your armor! Not that it's gonna matter. Are your helmets fireproof? The answer might surprise you!"

The Soldiers fell. Roxas said nothing.

_Sheesh... Quit acting like a zombie, and let's get this show on the road!_

"Sheesh...Quit acting like a zombie, and let's get this show on the road! What is a zombie, anyway? Like, I know what 'acting like a zombie' means, somehow, but I don't think I've ever seen one? Sounds like one of those weirdos in Halloweentown. The point is, this is almost as bad as when you started out. Remember that? Saix was like, this is the new kid, he's super important, you're going to show him the ropes. And I was like, why do I have to do it? I do feel bad about that now. But I didn't know you then. But Saix was all, Axel, you're so smart and talented, and you're way more handsome than me. And the new kid has spiky hair just like you, so it makes sense for you to train him. And I really couldn't argue with logic like that."

Something moved towards Roxas at a respectable speed. Zip Soldiers. Axel zipped to meet them.

"I think that was the first day I actually talked to you? Well, talked _at _you. You'd been hanging around for a week, but you didn't say anything. Kinda like now. That was the day Xemnas introduced Xion too. Is that why you started talking? Or was it me? Maybe both. Yeah, both. Mostly me though. You knew my name at least, which was cool, although I didn't get to use my catchphrase."

No Zip Soldier was going to keep up with the Flurry of Dancing Flames.

"I'm thinking about changing my catchphrase. I helped save the universe, so everybody should have my name memorized by now. Right? Right. Maybe I should name an ice cream flavor after myself, just to be safe. Next time we go to Disney Town...Ice cream! That's why you started talking! It was the first day I bought you ice cream. It's the source of your power. Now it all makes sense. You haven't had any ice-cream in at least twenty-four hours, right? No wonder you can't talk. You have, like, sea-salt anemia. How many fingers am I holding up? That also explains why you're not swinging your blade like usual. I saw your impromptu match with Riku. You fought like a Powerwild."

Roxas said something, but it was drowned out by a thumping noise. A Large Body, escorted by eight Scarlet Tangoes.

_I'm sorry, speak up? Cooouldn't quite catch that._

"I'm sorry, speak up? Cooouldn't quite catch that."

A Scarlet Tango tried to set Axel on fire. Heh. Cute.

"...did I really attack Riku?"

"You flailed at him. It wasn't much of a fight. What do you remember?"

Roxas wall-jumped behind the Large Body and threw his keyblade. Battle over.

"I...was with Hayner and Kairi. Xion screamed, and she was on the ground, and there was blood - I didn't stop, I just - she was hurt, and - then I was fighting something, I can't remember what -"

"Yeah, that was Riku."

"- and the guy with the wing showed up and threw a meteor at me. Then I woke up back at the Mansion."

An Air Soldier popped up and received a chakram to the face.

"I actually assaulted Riku?"

"He isn't holding a grudge, if that's what you're wondering. Might want to avoid Xion for a few days though. Shouldn't be hard for you, right?"

More Air Soldiers. Roxas leaped and spun forward.

"Xion...did she recover? I didn't see her at the Mansion."

"Xion never got hurt. That was Namine."

"What?"

"Barrel Spider. Never saw it coming. Xion just got lost." For several hours, and Axel hadn't even realized it, but Roxas didn't need to know that yet.

"No, that's not - I heard Xion scream."

"Nope. Namine." Yellow Operas appeared. Couldn't the darkness send Axel a challenge? "There is a difference. Xion goes 'Aah!', and Namine goes 'Oh!'. Kairi doesn't scream much, although I think she used 'Eeek!' once."

Neoshadows. There we go!

_You know what? Talking is dumb. Let's just go ahead and get our hands dirty, shall we?_

"You know what? Talking is dumb. Let's just go ahead and get our hands dirty, shall we?"

"Axel, wait!"

_Hey, what's wrong? You worried about the new kid? What was that name again..._

Axel tore into the Neoshadows with more fire than was strictly necessary. "Hey, what's wrong? You worried about the new kid? What was that name again..."

"Xion! She's okay? She's really okay?"

The air around them wavered.

"Since when do you care? You two friends or something?"

"Wha - of course we are!"

Axel and Roxas spun in place with their weapons outstretched until the air solidified. Stealth Soldiers.

"And here I thought you were a solo act."

"It's always been the three of us -"

_You really do remember me this time? I'm -_

"You really do remember me this time? I'm SO FLATTERED." Axel sent out a Fire Wall. The Stealth Soldiers died. Or just disappeared again? Hard to tell. "You've been giving us the cold shoulder lately. And you know how I feel about cold."

Roxas didn't answer - just threw his keyblade like a buzzsaw, taking out a Mega Shadow as it rose from the ground. More Mega Shadows followed.

_The Roxas I know -_

Axel blocked a claw swipe, leaving the Mega Shadow stunned. "The Roxas that I know is long gone. Fine, I see how it is..."

"I'm not gone! It's just - it's complicated."

_Best friends -_

"Best friends are willing to deal with complications."

A ring of dark energy appeared around Axel's feet, forcing him to jump. Invisibles. Four of them. Great.

If Roxas was bothered by the sudden onslaught, he didn't show it. Just swung his keyblade against the Invisible's blue-edged sword. "I have -" Thwack. " - to keep -" Thwack. "- my distance!" Snap. "I don't want -" Slash. "- to hurt Xion!" One Invisible down.

"What, afraid of stepping on her toes?" A second Invisible ran up and swung his sword. Axel caught it with his chakrams and twisted, knocking the sword away, then sent both chakrams through the Invisible's chest. "Xion isn't fragile."

"She's died before!" Roxas took out the third Invisible with a whirlwind swing. Shadows popped up in its wake.

"We've all died before. Do we know anybody who hasn't died before?" Were the Shadows growing?..oh. Gigas Shadows. The corridor was getting crowded. "But we got better. We came back. Xion came back."

"Do you remember how she died?" Roxas suddenly ran towards the last Invisible, did a series of aerial maneuvers that even Axel had trouble following, then grabbed the creature's sword.

"I BEAT HER TO DEATH WITH MY KEYBLADE! Like this!" Roxas swung his two swords with fury, taking out the Invisible, two Gigas Shadows, and part of the corridor wall. The blue sword vanished.

Axel had suspected Roxas was hung up on that. And Axel couldn't just tell him to let it go without being a massive hypocrite - hadn't he avoided Even and Ienzo at their lab, earlier in the week?

When in doubt, blame it all on Xemnas. That philosophy had served Axel well so far. "You didn't have a choice -"

"Sora would've found a way!"

...huh?

A Bulky Vendor appeared, tossed an Orichalcum at Roxas's feet, then vanished.

"Sora? What does Sora -" A flash of light gave Axel just enough warning to dodge as a laser beam lanced down the corridor. A Destroyer. "- have to do with this?" And Minute Bombs. Lovely. Now they had a time limit.

"Do you remember why I exist?" Roxas deflected a second beam into the Minute Bombs. "Kairi needed help. Sora impaled himself with a keyblade. Released his own heart, became a Heartless. With no way to come back. All to save Kairi."

Axel spun his chakrams through the remaining Minute Bombs - being very careful not to use any fire - while Roxas started on the Destroyer.

"And when Xion needed help, I...didn't do anything like that. I killed her."

Axel grabbed the last Minute Bomb and threw it at the Destroyer. "And you think Sora could've done better?"

"Of course he could have! Sora saves everybody!" Roxas hit the Destroyer with a bolt of lightning, sending it to the ground. "I have to be more like Sora. It's the only way to be sure I won't hurt Xion again." Roxas finished off the Destroyer with a flurry of slashes. "And I've been trying my hardest - dressing like him, copying his fighting style, training every day. I even started a rivalry with Riku."

"You really think that -" Axel's response was cut off as a red sword slammed into the side of his head.

"Ngf...Heal..." After several seconds, Axel's vision cleared. Roxas was holding the creature back. An Orcus? Hoo boy. Axel joined in, trying to stay in the creature's blind spots.

"I thought it would be easy - I was his Nobody, right? But it isn't working! Every world we visit, all I hear is that I'm _not Sora_."

More Heartless were pouring in.

"And how could I be? I was stupid. Sora defeated Xehanort and held the x-blade in his hands and brought back the dead and _saved the universe_. I can't live up to that!"

The Heartless kept coming. The exits to the corridor were cut off. Did Roxas even notice? Axel couldn't do anything about it - it was taking everything he had just to keep the Orcus at bay. The creature was weakening, but...

"I can't hurt Xion again! I can't! What am I supposed to do?"

_I mean, sometimes you sound like you really are heartsick or something._

Forget the Orcus - the flood of Heartless was just going to squash them against the corridor ceiling.

_Nah...I can handle these punks. Watch this!_

Axel had one last resort - but he'd only done it once before, as a Nobody. And it had killed him. Would it even work for him now? Ah well. Only one way to find out. Focus energy...spin the chakrams, and...

A blinding torrent of flames swept through the corridor.

When the spots faded from Axel's eyes, he noted with satisfaction that the corridor was clear. Fortunately. He wasn't going to try that twice.

Axel walked over to a slightly toasty Roxas, leaning upside-down against the corridor wall with a surprised look on his face. "Sora, Sora, Sora. It always comes back to him, doesn't it? And here I thought I was the main character."

Roxas stared at him.

_Talk about blank -_

"Talk about blank with a capital 'B.' Man oh man. You really think Sora had all the answers?"

Roxas managed to flip himself upright, but he started coughing before he could respond.

"It makes sense, I guess. You only ever saw Sora at his best. You didn't watch him stumble his way through Castle Oblivion."

Roxas shook his head. "He's -"

"That stunt I just pulled? I used that before, to save _him_. It's not like Sora held back the darkness all by himself. Or did you forget the Keyblade Graveyard? Fighting the Xehanorts, and closing Kingdom Hearts? It took all of us."

"He still would have saved Xion...he would have found a way..."

"Then _where is he_? Right now? If Sora always finds a way, then why is he missing?"

Roxas lowered his gaze.

"Xemnas is gone. For good this time." Hopefully. "Nothing's gonna come between you and Xion."

"...I'm still scared."

_Scared? Scared's a feeling, man. Maybe you just remember what it's like to feel scared, and think you're feeling it now._

"Scared? You have a heart now. 'Scared' is going to happen, along with a lot of other things. Sure, you might hurt Xion again. You're not perfect. But you'll definitely hurt her if you drive her away." Axel held out his hand. "And if you're not perfect, then maybe Sora isn't either."

Roxas gave a ghost of a smile and took Axel's hand. "When did you get so smart?"

"Hey, I'm not about to tell you ALL my dark secrets. I bet you keep a thing or two from me."

"Maybe."

"Feel better?"

"...sort of. I still have to talk to Riku...I didn't attack anybody else, did I?"

"Nah, just him."

"That's bad enough though." Roxas's shoulders slumped. "Xion's gonna kill me. Could we keep fighting Heartless down here a while longer? Like, for a year?"

Axel looked at the remains of the corridor. "I think we already beat them all."

"Oh. Right."

_Hey, friends have gotta be able to lean on each other now and then. Ain't that right, Roxas?_

"Come on. I'll back you up when you talk to Riku."

_Well, we have had our share of drama._

"Xion can't stay mad forever, right? It'll all work out."

_Girls sure are complicated, huh?_

"In fact, let's talk to her first."

_You and me get to go track Xion down. That's our mission today. They think Xion's in Twilight Town somewhere. We'll go when you're ready._

_Just like old times, eh?_

* * *

Riku wracked his brain for the most appropriately Master-ish conversation starter.

_Have you been eating right? Getting enough sleep?_

_Are you, or have you ever been, a seeker of DARKNESS?_

_How about that blitzball game, eh?_

Looking at Namine, Riku decided to actually ask the question that was foremost in his mind.

"How are you feeling?"

"Oh! My leg's all better," Namine said. "You...did a great job healing me! I can't even tell I got hurt anymore. There's no scar or anything. I wasn't going to show you! I mean, of course I wasn't. My legs are great. Yep."

Riku had figured as much, seeing as Namine was _standing and walking around_. "That's not what I meant. We walked through dark corridors, lost our friends, and fought Heartless. You got stabbed. You passed out, woke up and used your mental powers to save my life, and passed out again. How are you _really _feeling?"

"...promise not to think I'm weird?"

"Namine, 'weird' is getting possessed by a guy who turns into a boat. You would have to work very hard to reach that level."

"What I said earlier, that getting injured like that wasn't a big deal for me? I meant it. I've been hurt before. I've been dead before. I used to live with Larxene and Marluxia. And now I'm surrounded by people who care about me. Honestly? I feel _amazing_."

That was the last answer Riku had been expecting. "I'm glad. And horrified."

"There. I've been honest with you. Now, how are _you _feeling?"

"Me?"

"If you wanted to take a nap, the Mansion would've been a lot more comfortable. It's because of me, isn't it? You saved my life, and I said all those terrible -"

"I feel like Marluxia."

"...Riku, how many times did Roxas hit you in the head?"

"I'm serious. Namine, I've lost Kairi twice. I've lost my entire world. I've lost track of how many times I've lost my best friend, and he's still missing. He might be gone for good this time. I wanted something, anything, that I wouldn't lose. So I've been keeping you out of harm's way. On the sidelines. You show up to practice every day, and I ignore you."

"I don't have a keyblade -"

"There's plenty I could still show you. Basic training, self-defense, situation awareness. But I don't. Marluxia locked you away so he could use your power? I locked you away so you couldn't. I was selfish."

Namine said nothing.

"I didn't even realize you still had your mental powers. I didn't think to check. Ansem figured that out. It never crossed my mind that you might want a keyblade; Kairi was the one who -"

"Riku, stop." Namine's voice wavered. "Why are you telling me this now? Are you really going to -"

"I'm going to help you find your keyblade."

Namine opened her mouth, then closed it again. Several times.

"I can't promise you anything. Keyblades kind of do whatever they want. But we'll try. We can talk to Yen Sid, or Aqua, or Ansem...okay, maybe not Ansem." Riku gave a self-effacing smile. "Sora would've been better to help you with this sort of thing, but you'll have to put up with me instead."

"...what if I can't?"

"You were the Nobody of a keyblade wielder, just like Roxas. You're more likely to get a keyblade than other people. I still don't like the idea of putting you in danger to make your keyblade show up. We'll think of something else. In the meantime, you can start practicing with a wooden sword. That's actually a part of traditional keyblade training, according to Aqua." Riku smirked. "And you definitely need to learn self-defense. You'll like it. You get to break my nose."

"That's not what I meant. Am I really worthy? I didn't want a keyblade until you started group practice at Destiny Islands. I wanted to be like everybody else. That's selfish too, isn't it?"

"There's nothing wrong with wanting a keyblade."

"I'm - I'm no good at saving people -"

"Apart from the time you rescued Kairi from Organization 13. And stood up to Marluxia. And spent a year restoring Sora's mind. And saved me from Roxas. And don't think I didn't notice you pushing Olette out of the way when the Barrel Spiders attacked."

"Riku, I'm just a nobody -"

"Pretty sure you have a heart now."

"You know what I mean! I used to be Kairi's Nobody. Now I'm just a girl who hides behind her sketchbook. Why _would _a keyblade choose me?"

Once again, Riku wished Sora was around to give the pep talk.

...what _would _Sora say in a situation like this?

_I know now I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon: my heart!_

Worth a shot. "I once told Sora that he wasn't worthy of the keyblade. I actually stole it from him. But he didn't stop. He fought his way through Hollow Bastion anyway, with nothing but a wooden sword...and Beast, but...anyway, when he confronted me, he told me he had a better weapon: his heart. And then he stabbed himself with my keyblade and lost his heart, and he became a Heartless...let me start over."

What else would Sora say?

_I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!_

"But even without a keyblade, he still had his friends! Sora's friends are his power. Like Beast. And Donald Duck. And me...although I was possessed by Xehanort's Heartless at the time, and trying to kill him...and I think Donald attacked Sora after he became a Heartless...this isn't working, is it?"

Anything else?

_DARKNESS!_

That was no help at all. Riku had one last resort - a forbidden technique that he'd never even attempted. Was it worth risking everything?

Riku looked at Namine.

Then he took a deep breath, cleared his mind, and tapped into his inner Selphie.

_Focus on Namine! Stop looking at everything else. She won't bite. _

Riku took a few steps forward until he was directly in front of Namine.

_You need to steady yourself. Hands on her shoulders. Gently! And eye contact, that's important. _

Riku did so. Namine's eyes widened.

_Now…it's not the _keyblade _that's the issue here, is it?_

"...Namine...you've been a Somebody for less than a month, so you might not know this. All those new feelings you're experiencing? Sometimes they're wrong. You are...an amazing, strong, selfless person. And I'm sure you don't feel like you are - but that doesn't mean you aren't. It just means you have to take my word for it. And I'll try to be less overbearing, but I'll never stop wanting to protect you. You have a heart now, and it's precious."

Namine...didn't protest. Didn't make excuses.

"When your keyblade does show up, remember that it's not the keyblade that makes you worthwhile. It's the other way around."

For a moment, Namine looked like she was going to cry. She lowered her head. Riku stopped breathing.

"...so..."

Namine lifted her head and gave Riku the most radiant smile he had ever seen.

"...if I gave you my heart, you'd keep it safe?"

Riku blinked.

"You - you can remove your heart? On your own? I mean, yes, I would keep it safe, it's just...sorry, I didn't realize replicas could do that."

"Riku -"

"Where would I keep it? Sora carried Kairi's heart inside himself, but he had to stab himself to get it out. Although Ventus and Roxas returned on their own. Maybe there's a trick to it."

"Riku -"

"But wouldn't you turn back into a Nobody? We shouldn't risk it. I'll just -"

"Riku!"

"- protect you the old-fashioned way. Yeah?"

Namine was giving Riku a Look that Kairi had frequently given Sora. Selphie had once identified it as the you're-adorable-when-you're-this-stupid-but-stop-talking-anyway glare. Where had Namine learned that? And why was she using it now?

Namine's gaze softened again. She looked like she was expecting something...and Riku had no idea what it was. His inner Selphie had gone quiet.

...maybe a hug? Riku carefully wrapped his arms around her. Namine gave a small 'Oh!' and stiffened, but she didn't scream or push him away.

After a moment, Namine relaxed. Good.

...holding Namine was very pleasant. Riku tried to ignore his own feelings - the hug was for Namine's benefit, not his. Art of the selfless and all that.

And then Namine returned the hug and buried her face in Riku's shoulder. Well. Alright then. Maybe Namine wouldn't mind if he held her a little while longer.

* * *

"Axel, we're lost."

"We are not lost. We're retracing our steps to the Underground entrance."

"For the fifth time? We're walking in a circle."

"How can you even tell? All the corridors look the same."

"See the corridor up ahead? All the walls are black."

"You're right! Huh. Wonder why."

"Because we were here earlier, and you set everything on fire."

"...is that how you and Kairi found me down here? I'd been meaning to ask."

"We looked for a glowing orange blob. You're hard to miss."

"Well, I'm not the Flurry of Kill-Everything-Stealthily-Under-Cover-Of-Darkness."

"You're not the Flurry of I-Remembered-To-Bring-A-Guide-With-Me either."

"Look on the bright side! Once we find our way out of here, talking to Xion will be easy in comparison."

"Wait. Did you hear something?"

After several seconds, Axel heard it too.

"...Roooooxas...Aaaaaaxel...wheeeeeere are youuuuu...pleeeease don't be killllllling each otherrrrrrrr..."

"It's Xion!" Roxas was off like a rocket. Axel lagged behind - that last blast of flame had worn him out more than he'd realized - but he caught up just in time to hear a very familiar scream.

"Aah!"

Roxas was hugging a very confused Xion.

_Put two half-pints together, and you get a whole!_

Axel tapped Roxas on the shoulder. "Let Xion breathe, buddy."

Roxas let go. "Xion! You're okay!"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"...right. It was Namine who...whatever. You're okay! That's a good thing When I thought you were hurt, I totally lost it, and...uh, I attacked Riku. Please don't kill me. I'm really sorry."

"You attacked Riku because - all of that was because of me? Because you were worried about me?"

_Everybody's got something they want to hang on to._

Axel smirked. "You sound surprised. Roxas has been talking about you ever since we came down here. Apparently you're all he thinks about -"

Roxas glared.

"- even if he doesn't show it."

Roxas stopped glaring. "Yeah. I've been - I tried to - I couldn't let go, and - I'm not going to be - I'm not Sora. Yeah." He looked at Xion. "I'm not Sora."

Xion met his gaze. "I'm not Kairi."

Roxas smirked. "I'm not Kairi either."

Xion giggled.

"Roxas."

"Xion."

_You're my best friends. The three of us...we're inseparable._

Axel threw his arms around them. "Well, if introductions are in order: how would you guys feel about calling me Lea?"


	9. Somebody's Destiny

"Hurry uuup," Lea whined as Pence fiddled with the Old Mansion computer system.

"Lea, let him concentrate," Xion said.

"Mph mm mphph -"

"Roxas, don't talk with your mouth full."

Roxas swallowed and placed his late breakfast on a nearby cabinet. "If you're bored, you can join Riku and Kairi in the Underground."

"Ha! No." If Lea ever had to walk through that stupid maze again, it would be too soon. At least Kairi had remembered to take Hayner with them as a guide.

"...there we go!" Pence tapped a few more buttons. "Connecting to Ansem's Lab in 3...2..."

The main terminal on the computer screen disappeared, replaced with a live image of Dilan and Aeleus. A close-up of their noses, at least.

"Oi! Wot's this then?"

"...?"

Good. Lea could handle talking to Dilan. It wasn't Ienzo or -

"Why aren't you two at your posts? Honestly. I hardly miss my Dusks, but at least they would stay on task."

On-screen, Even pushed Dilan and Aeleus out of the way. Lea had barely enough time to dash behind the cabinet - nearly knocking over Xion, who had somehow beaten him to the same hiding place.

Even's voice continued to grumble. "Now who would be calling this early in the - ah, Sora! I trust this is not a courtesy call."

Lea felt slight guilt as Roxas looked around, having just realized that he was alone in front of the screen.

Even shook his head. "Er, not Sora. Roxas. My apologies."

Roxas shrugged. "Common mistake. We're, er, I'm calling about the Heartless in Twilight Town."

"Ah yes. They have been disposed of?"

"Lea and I finished them off yesterday. Riku and the others are sweeping through the Underground one last time, just to be safe, but yeah. They're gone. Still not sure why they showed up in the first place though."

"That is a problem. Did you experience anything unusual during your search?"

"Uh..."

Roxas glanced behind him. Lea bent one arm at the elbow and waggled it up and down.

"...oh, yeah! There was a guy with one wing. Namine said his name was -"

"Sephiroth! Ah, that explains it!"

"You know about him?"

"Years ago, I spied on him for the Organization. Xemnas had an interest. Unfortunately, Xigbar blew my cover." Even shook his head. "Clumsy loudmouth. Xigbar never could keep a secret."

"...so how does that explain anything? Sephiroth didn't look like he was summoning Heartless."

"He didn't need to. He's so full of darkness, Heartless are drawn to his location naturally. I doubt he even realized it."

Roxas frowned. "Isn't Twilight Town still in danger then, even if the Heartless are gone? Xion drove Sephiroth away -"

"She did what!?"

" - but now we can't find him. What if he jumps from a ceiling and impales somebody?"

"I wouldn't worry. As I recall, Sephiroth is obsessed with tracking another fellow. Squall or somesuch. He has no interest in anybody else." Even gave what would be a reassuring smile on anybody else. "I consider the matter closed. Those children who alerted us are safe now."

"If you say so. Speaking of - Ansem mentioned he has children of his own? Do you know anything about that? He never talks about them."

"Indeed he doesn't. All I know is that they cut ties with him years ago, and he hasn't heard from them since. Unsurprising, given everything that happened to our world, but quite unfortunate. They could be dead, or worse, and our master would never know it."

Lea swore he could hear Dilan and Aeleus whimpering in the background.

"It's hardly unusual," Even continued. "I myself have several children - no, not you, Ienzo - and I never hear from them. Most of them were disappointments. But my youngest, my daughter...I...I denied her a childhood. Did nothing when she fell in with a bad crowd. Wasn't there for her when she needed me most. And yet she's grown into a fine young woman - even has her own keyblade, and is out saving worlds! I couldn't be prouder."

Lea looked down. Xion was sniffling. On the computer, Dilan and Aeleus were sniffling as well.

"...although I'm still uncertain about those boys she likes to spend time with. One of them is much older and clearly a delinquent."

Lea rolled his eyes.

"Why, I was informed he visited Radiant Garden recently, and he didn't even stop by to say hello! Most disappointing. I have feelings now, you know."

Roxas glanced back at a wide-eyed Lea and grinned. "Well, maybe others will bring out the best in him."

"I will admit to the possibility."

"Um, excuse me!" Xion walked out from behind the cabinet.

Even's face softened. "Ah, Xion!"

"You had mentioned before that you were worried about my well-being? I might be willing to, um, send status reports? Like, once a week?"

"That would be most welcome, yes!"

"In the interest of Science, I mean."

"It does my newly-restored heart good to hear you say those words. And I just so happen to have been working on - I'm sorry, I'm going to have to call you back. Dilan! Aeleus! Why are you two bawling?"

* * *

"You mean we went through all that trouble because Sephiroth summoned a bunch of Heartless by _accident_?"

"Look on the bright side," Kairi said. "It wasn't a Xehanort this time. That makes everything better, doesn't it?"

"I guess so." Namine still looked like she wanted to scream, and Riku couldn't blame her. After walking through the Underground for a third time, Riku felt like screaming himself. But that wouldn't be a very Masterly thing to do, so he settled for eating lunch instead.

Pence had been kind enough to make lunch after fixing the computer link. Riku, Kairi, and Hayner had returned from the Underground to find everybody enjoying the meal at a table set up in the Mansion front yard.

Kairi nudged Riku. "And the Underground is officially clean. That's good too. We didn't see any other Heartless this morning, right?"

Riku nodded. He knew better than to talk with his mouth full.

"That's right!" Lea gestured dramatically. "And they'll think twice before coming back! Not with Lea's Angels on the prowl!"

Riku swallowed his food, then glared. "We _did _see a surprising amount of fire damage."

"Er...we ran into some Scarlet Tangoes yesterday."

"Those little guys burned entire corridors, all by themselves?"

"Terrible, isn't it? No respect for public property. I don't know what the worlds are coming to these days."

Xion was confused for another reason. "What are 'Lea's Angels?' "

"That's right! You guys never got to hear my entrance music!" Lea stood up and placed one foot on his chair, then started singing:

_Three intrepid heroes_

_Led by Lea! Their leader Lea!_

_Lea's Angels! Mmm mm mmm_

_Lea's Angels! Mmm mm mmm_

_Harnessing the power of the keyblade_

_With stuff like light and friendship! and hearts and ice cream!_

_Mmm mm mmm_

_The leader's hair is red -_

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Lea, if you call me an 'angel' again, I will harness the power of my keyblade at your face."

"What's an 'angel'?" Xion said. "Is it something bad?"

"Mmm mm mmm!" Namine bopped in place. "I thought it was catchy!"

"Thank you!" Lea preened. "Roxas, you just don't understand art."

"Riiight. And you do? You've been taking lessons from Demyx?"

"Hey!"

Okay. Roxas was in a good mood. Which made what Riku was about to do easier, but only slightly.

Roxas hadn't had the chance to apologize to Riku the day before - Riku had had his arms full with Namine, so to speak - but he had apologized first thing in the morning. Which had left Riku with no time to decide what to do with him. Riku wasn't holding a grudge, and he'd made that clear to Roxas, but he couldn't just let it go either. He was a Master; letting his students decapitate him would set a bad example. After mulling over Roxas's punishment all morning, Riku felt he had a good solution. Maybe. Possibly.

Well, he was about to find out. Riku cleared his throat. "Roxas."

The lunch table went quiet.

"You are hereby suspended from training for one week, starting today. You may attend practice, but you will not participate."

"So you're forcing Roxas to take a break without calling it that? How clever!" Kairi said.

"Neat! I won't be sitting by myself at practice now!" Namine said.

"Man, you're getting a vacation? I'm so jealous!" Lea said.

"You're not going to turn Roxas into a Dusk? You're such a good Master!" Xion said.

"You can still do other stuff, right?" Hayner held up a foam bat that had appeared out of nowhere. "Up for some Struggle?"

So much for judgment. Riku wasn't sure why he was surprised. Maybe it was for the best; Roxas did look embarrassed, but he wasn't having another nervous breakdown.

"Speaking of practice," Riku said. "We're not returning to Destiny Islands until this evening, but there's no reason we can't get some training in today."

"I finally get a chance to fight our vaulted master!" Lea cheered.

"Lea, you're going to help Kairi learn Fire Dash."

"...you did that on purpose."

"Xion, you're with me. One-on-one."

"Yay!"

"Now I'm sure you're doing that on purpose."

* * *

Riku had barely practiced with Xion for twenty minutes when Namine walked up. "Namine, is something wrong?"

Namine held up a Struggle bat. "You said you'd start me on basic training. Can we begin today?"

"Sure. Xion, can you -"

In the distance, fire blazed up, following by shouting.

"- help Lea teach Kairi Fire Dash?"

For several seconds, Xion looked like she wanted to say something. Then she abruptly pouted and stormed off.

Riku frowned. "Did I say something wrong?"

"I'm sure she's fine. Xion's still getting used to feelings. That's all."

"You mean like how she declared her love for me yesterday?"

Namine blushed. "I know Xion's adorable, but somebody really needs to explain things to her."

"...oh. It's my responsibility, isn't it? I'm her Master."

"That's not what I -"

"Makes sense. I'm not really qualified, but this is important. Yesterday's love declaration was bad enough; what if Xion starts kissing people?" Riku blanched. "She _hasn't _kissed anybody, has she? I really need to -"

"No!" Namine all but shouted. "Don't teach Xion about kissing!"

Namine, raising her voice? That was new.

"I - I mean, boys and girls have very different perspectives. If somebody's going to explain romance to Xion, it should be another girl. Maybe Kairi? Xion looks up to her. Besides, you're already really busy with your Master stuff."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Nice of Namine to look out for him like that. "Speaking of training..." Riku gestured to the bat that Namine was holding.

"Oh! Right. I tried playing Struggle with the others, but I didn't do very well. Hayner said I was holding the bat wrong?"

"How were you holding it?"

Namine grabbed the bat at the middle and held it up horizontally. Hoo boy. This was going to take a while.

* * *

Kairi gritted her teeth and dashed for the millionth time. Still no fire. "Why isn't this working!?"

"Maybe you need to visualize," Lea said. "Concentrate hard on how much you want to set everything on fire."

Kairi dashed again. Nothing.

"Concentrate hard on how much you want to set _me _on fire."

Kairi dashed again, further this time. Nothing.

The desire to set things on fire was getting stronger by the second. Kairi dashed again. Nothing.

Kairi dashed again and smacked straight into Xion.

"Aah!"

"I'm so sorry!" Kairi helped Xion up. "I wasn't paying attention. I was focused on, um, burning things."

"It's fine. Riku asked me to help. It seems you have Fire Dash working now, though?"

"She's halfway there," Lea said. "All dash and no fire."

"Maybe the problem is motivation?"

"That's what I said. Kairi, you're too nice for your own good. Sometimes the world needs to burn."

"That's not what I meant. Just running a few feet with no target doesn't have any urgency to it...I know! Kairi, pretend that Lea is kidnapping you again."

Lea smirked but said nothing.

"Um...okay..." Kairi thought for a moment, then dashed.

Nothing.

Long arms suddenly wrapped around Kairi's waist, picked her up, and swung her around.

"Eeek!"

"This is the greatest idea ever," Lea said, grinning from ear to ear. "Ready to try again?"

* * *

After another hour of dashing and not setting things on fire, Lea decided Kairi needed a break.

"Lea, put me down!"

Whether she wanted one or not.

Walking to the table in front of the Mansion where Roxas and the others were hanging out, Lea finally took a protesting Kairi off of his shoulder and sat her on a chair. Kairi folder her arms and pouted.

Xion sat down next to Roxas. "You guys done with Struggle?"

Hayner shrugged as he idly tossed one of the foam Struggle balls in his hand. "Turns out Roxas and me aren't on the same level. At least we know who's gonna take the title from Seifer when he gets back."

Lea sat next to Xion. "Is there anywhere in town that sells Struggle equipment? We should take some back with us. Don't want Roxas to get bored this week." Lea scratched his head. "Say, if I attacked Riku, would I get days off too?"

"Lea, why would you even need a break?" Xion said.

"Hey, chasing girls is hard work. And I gotta be in top form when my little buddy is back in action." Lea looked over Xion's head and grinned at Roxas. "We're gonna show Riku our new group attack, right?"

The grin didn't escape Xion's notice. "Group attack? What are you -"

Roxas grinned back. "Right, that. Trinity Move -"

"- Xion Sandwich!"

"Aah!"

Kairi giggled and uncrossed her arms. "We should go shopping later. Buying some Struggle equipment is a good idea."

Olette, all smiles, pointed into the distance. "It looks like Namine is really into it!"

Everybody looked. Namine was holding a Struggle bat. Riku was standing directly behind her, with his arms around hers, guiding her through some basic sword motions.

"They've been like that for an hour now," Olette mock-whispered.

"Aw man," Lea said. "Roxas, you're not going to miss much. Riku has a new favorite." He pouted. "I'm never gonna get my turn. I thought this week was my big chance to get some training in with our legendary Master. What's the deal?"

"Namine's cuter than you," Kairi said.

"Really?"

"I don't understand either," Xion said. "Why is Namine a 'favorite' now?"

"I think it's wonderful!" Olette said. "There's something sweet, and almost kind."

"Riku was terse, and a big dork, and unrefined," Kairi said. "But now he's dear, and so unsure! I wonder why I didn't see it there before."

"She grabbed a bat," Hayner explained, "and then just ran. And now she's in his arms - I think she had a plan?"

"Nah, that can't be. I'll just ignore," Lea said. "But then, she's never looked at him that way before."

"It _is _new, and a bit alarming," Roxas said. "Who'd have ever thought this could be?"

"Yeah, Riku's no Prince Charming -"

"Lea, I'm gonna tell him you said that."

"- but there's something in him that I simply didn't see. Well, who'd have thought?"

"Who would have known?" Kairi said.

"And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own?" Olette said.

"We'll wait and see a few days more," Roxas said.

"There may be something there that wasn't there before," Pence said.

"...seriously, what are you guys talking about?" Xion said.

"Y'know, perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before," Hayner said.

"What's 'there'?"

Olette nodded. "I'm sure there's something there that wasn't there before!"

"That doesn't help at all!"

Lea chuckled. "I'll tell you when you're older, half-pint."

"That's not fair! Why is everybody smiling? Lea! Lea, I'm older now, so tell me!"

* * *

Kairi yawned as she finally landed the Gummi Bus on Destiny Islands. Riku had said he'd pilot the last leg of the trip, but he'd never returned to the cockpit. Maybe he'd fallen asleep? It had been a big day, and the ride home had taken hours.

Or maybe Riku had worn himself out by keeping his arms around Namine all afternoon? Kairi smiled to herself. She could imagine the fit Selphie would throw when she found out.

Kairi was looking forward to tomorrow. Travelling was fun, but it was good to be home again. She even had a plan for a 'local' group activity - namely, lock all of her friends in a room and leave them there until they _talked their problems out_.

...which wouldn't work, since they had keyblades that could undo any lock. But they'd get the point. Maybe.

During the ride home, Kairi had called Ansem to see if he had any pointers on helping former Nobodies - several of them worked in his lab, after all. Maybe there was some kind of support group? Unfortunately, the call had been interrupted - Dilan and Aeleus had suddenly grabbed Ansem in a bone-crushing hug, with Dilan crying and calling him 'Daddy'. That was...probably fine.

Kairi shut down the Gummi Bus engines and left the cockpit for the passenger area, all the while trying to keep any lingering guilt in check. She wasn't going to lie to herself. Dragging her friends through different worlds may have brought their problems to light, but it hadn't magically fixed them. Roxas, Xion and Namine still had a ways to go. So did Lea and Riku. And so did Kairi herself, if she was being completely honest. Really, their little bonding sessions had done as much harm as good, and Kairi was lucky that nobody was mad at her for -

Kairi stopped in the entrance to the passenger area.

Riku was indeed asleep. So was everybody else. And they were all sitting on the same bench.

Lea was in the middle with his long arms across the back of the bench. On his right, Roxas and Xion were huddled together underneath Lea's coat. On his left was Riku. Namine was between them, tipped over slightly so her head was just barely resting on Riku's arm.

Kairi put her hand over her mouth so she wouldn't squeal, then pulled out her Gummiphone and took several photos.

It had worked. The plan had worked. Barely, and certainly not in the way Kairi had intended, but everybody was _together_. Except for Sora, but they'd fix that soon enough.

Well! No need to wake anyone up just yet. Kairi very carefully nudged Namine over - nearly onto Riku's lap - then settled down between Namine and Lea before drifting off to sleep.


End file.
